Andy Cole believes Manchester United need to try and bring in another striker in the summer to compete with Liverpool and Manchester City.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking to strengthen his attacking line when the transfer window opens to give support and competition to Marcus Rashford.
The England international is United’s leading goalscorer this season but the failure to replace Romelu Lukaku last summer meant that the Red Devils had to bring in Odion Ighalo on loan in January as they attempted to cope without Rashford while he was injured.
United have long been admirers of Tottenham striker Harry Kane but with Ed Woodward having suggested there will be a lack of transfer activity amid Covid-19, a move for the England captain seems highly unlikely.
Cole does, however, think that bringing in an additional forward to add competition to the squad would be a wise move.
He told Goal: "I think they do need another striker. If you look at teams at the top, Manchester City and Liverpool, if you look what they’ve got, they’ve got more than one striker.
"During my time at United there was more than one striker, if you want to be a team that competes at the highest level you need more than one."
During his six years at United Cole built up an impressive partnership with Dwight Yorke, with Solskjaer also chipping in, and the 48-year-old, who has just launched the Andy Cole Fund, thinks the current squad would benefit from more competition.
"Of course that partnership with him (Yorke) made me thrive and we were good friends which helped," Cole added. "But Ole made me thrive too, we want to get in the team but ultimately we want to learn off each other.
"You marry all these things in and that can only push you on as an individual and make you better and that would happen in the squad now if another striker was brought in."
Ighalo’s loan deal expires at the end of the month and his future remains up in the air.
The former Watford striker's parent club Shanghai Shenhua want the forward back and while United want to keep the 30-year-old until the end of this campaign at least, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a lot of uncertainty.
"It’s not my decision whether or not they should keep him," Cole said. "But I have been really pleased with him and he’s done well. He has scored when he has come in to the team and he’s doing what they ask of him but ultimately it’s going to be down to what other business United want to do in the summer and how it fits in with that."
