In one of those pirouettes that football provides, and that the offices are in charge of promoting, Manchester United, Al-Nassr and Besiktas are about to complete an exchange of strikers that before the World Cup break would have seemed unreal.
The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi team left a space that is now occupied by a Dutch stem of almost two meters, Wout Weghorst, the same one who rose to fame for a face-to-face with Lionel Messi in Qatar, when the Argentine star snapped at him with Rosario accent: “What are you looking at, silly?
Go over there, fool."
Weghorst now succeeds CR7 at Old Trafford and leaves the Turkish side Besiktas, which is about to be joined by Vincent Aboubakar, a Cameroonian striker affected by the arrival of the Portuguese star at Al-Nassr, who already had the quota of foreigners covered.
Weghorst arrives in Manchester on a loan deal until the end of the season after a €2.8m loan break from Burnley to Besiktas.
"Maybe we have to be creative," Erik ten Hag, Manchester United coach, had warned when he referred a few days ago to his team's attitude towards the transfer market and the options to fill the gap left by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Weghorst offers a very different profile at all levels, but above all in terms of football solutions.
His emergence in the World Cup came after having played just 20 minutes in the first four games of his team, the Netherlands.
But in the fifth he entered the field twelve minutes from the end and when his team was losing by two goals.
His impact was immediate: he tied the game, sent it to extra time and a penalty shootout,
where he also scored before Argentina earned their place in the semifinals.
Then came the viralized encounter with an unleashed Messi.
"At least now my name has been learned," Weghorst concluded after the episode.
Many also discovered him that night, exuberant in the area to be uncontrollable for the Argentine defense, unable to defend the balls into the area that his teammates sent him in a desperate climax in search of a tie.
Weghorst had started the season in Turkey, where he leaves after scoring nine goals in 18 games, a destination he reached after a disappointing mid-season with Burnley, who lost the category in the Premier with his contribution of just two goals. in 20 matches.
But Weghorst is underrated.
He arrived at Burnley overnight after Newcastle took New Zealander Chis Wood for 28 million euros.
Half cost them the Dutch substitute, who could not sustain the numbers that preceded him.
Because Weghorst, big and presumably clumsy, signed 70 goals in 144 games with the German Wolfsburg and before 45 goals in 86 duels with AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie of his country.
Weghorst makes it to the only English team alive in four competitions.
United is fighting to be among the top four in the Premier League, they will face a fourth round duel (round of 32) in the Cup against Reading, from the second category, Nottingham awaits them in the semifinals of the League Cup and a cross against Barcelona in the Europa League.
“I feel privileged to have the chance to play for Manchester United.
I'm going to give it my all while I'm here," explained Weghorst, whose registration did not arrive in time to play this Saturday's derby against City.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on
and
, or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
.
