Amazing new striker transfer talk coincidence?

With United set to take on West Ham United in a crunch Premier League match this weekend, is it not a very odd, yet timely coincidence that the comic that is the Daily Star is claiming that the Reds could make a summer swoop for Dean Ashton?

We are of course heading into the summer transfer window, in other words the silly season. It's bad enough on a Sunday when the downmarket papers print a tissue of lies and half-truths within their sports pages linking just about every well known star to your favourite club.

So what of this latest link, does it have any merits, could it actually be true? United have bought several players with links to the Hammers in the past and usually for over-inflated fees. While he was still at West Ham we could have snapped up Carrick for under £3m, instead Fergie dithered until we ended up shelling out nearer £19m to Spurs...silly money.

Then there was Paul Ince, AKA"Big-Time-Charlie" the self-styled 'Guvnor', and in that instance the stories in the press about him signing for the Reds were true, but it's fair to say at that time United had an awful habit of allowing things to slip via the press. Remarkably we signed Ince for only £1m - no wonder the Hammers fans hate him and United...

Of this latest link, Ashton is reportedly looking to secure a new deal, it therefore cannot be ruled out that his represenatives have leaked this story to the press with a view to prizing a better deal out of the club.

United most certainly do need a new forward as Saha will surely be sold in the summer. If Angolan striker Manucho secures that work permit the Reds problems could be solved at a stroke. But as an insurance policy we do need another top forward, and added to which we do need four top strikers, so would Ashton fit the bill?

Those with half decent memories will recall that Ashton is a product of Crewe Alexander, not that long ago he was being linked with the top clubs in the land, United were said to be interested as were Liverpool and Arsenal, but we did not make our move. So once again, if the rumours are actually true, we will no doubt end up paying double the £8m being touted by the Star... (like we do...)

Ashton is a decent Premier League target man, but I've seen milk turn quicker, one could say the same about Berbatov who is also being linked to United - the Bulgarian has more skill than Ashton, he is just as slow but more lazy, which is why I'm personally not 100% convinced about either of them, this is largely because I believe that to do well in Europe you need pace.

We could do worse than sign Jones from Sunderland who would give us a different option - he is the poor man's Drogba in the making. Jones has the power and he's built like a brick-shit-house like Drogba and he's as good as the Ivorian in the air, but he's a rough diamond right now.

The problem would be the transfer fee, Keane would be need to recoup a lot of money from any potential sale as his spending has been so woeful. Perhaps, the Reds could try to broker a swap deal that involved Jonny Evans?

Samuel Eto'o is top class, but in exchange, Barca would no doubt demand our 'jewel in the crown' Ronaldo in exchange and on that note I will have an update on the future of our wonderboy later ....

For now, expect a lot more names to enter the frame as the search for a new striker has only just begun. On a positive note to end, the Manucho deal came out of the blue, let us hope that Fergie et al surprises us again this summer. No matter how patchy Ferguson's spending has been over the last few seasons, we can all agree that last summer's transfer business was first-rate.