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Manchester United are selling the wrong striker

by Sam Peoples

News has broken today that Joshua King will be loaned out to Blackburn Rovers in the Championship with a permanent deal expected to be completed in January.

”I have set Christmas as a deadline. If I haven’t got more playing time by then, I will consider moving to another club. Considering the players United have, it is not easy to get into the starting 11. I would prefer to stay in England, but in case I do return to Norway, Molde is the only option.” Joshua King

Given the fact that Manchester United have exited the Capital One Cup, it is unsurprising to see that Joshua King will be going out on loan but I can’t see why we would let him go on a permanent move, and keep Federico Macheda.

This has been a great season of progression for 20-year-old Joshua King. He has made his full international debut with Norway, scored his first international goal and made his full Manchester United debut against Galatasaray last night in the Champions League – and it isn’t just in appearances that he has been progressing with. His all round game has come on leaps and bounds this year and he has been one of the U21s best performers. Lightning quick pace has always been his greatest asset but his intelligence has been markedly improved, looking up for team mates more often rather than simply spurning chances with shots.

As for Federico Macheda, it has been a tough few years for him. It’s hard to comprehend that he is only 21 considering how long he has been around the team but he was only 17 when he scored that goal against Aston Villa. As a youngster, it was always going to be difficult for him to maintain those sorts of levels and he peaked so early with such an important winner that the only way was down – the goal came too early for him in his career.

Poor loan spells to Sampdoria and QPR have done nothing to further his career and I can’t see a future for him at Manchester United. On the other hand, I can for Joshua King.

There’s no doubt that at 20, King needs more first team football and judging from what he has said on a potential move, he isn’t in a hurry to leave United and we shouldn’t be in a rush to sell him.

He said: “The Championship is a good league, but there’s not every club there I’d like to play for. However, I did watch the Peterborough-game and Blackburn play good, attractive football.

“So it’s an interesting club. We’ll have to see if I play more first team football this fall, stay in the reserves or go on loan.”

For me, Joshua King is much more of a future prospect than Federico Macheda will ever be. The Italian might be our top scorer at U21 level but every time I see him play for the first team, it doesn’t look like he belongs there. At 21, he has his whole career ahead of him and I think he would certainly have a chance to make it a successful one, but not at Manchester United.

As for Joshua King, a loan move to Blackburn with ex-United defender Henning Berg at the helm would be a great loan move. I just hope that it isn’t going to be permanent as has been suggested.

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