Barcelona tie gives Erik ten Hag's Manchester United transfer gamble chance to prove him right

With Manchester United having worked so hard to bring Wout Weghorst to Old Trafford in the January transfer window, his start to life with the Reds has been somewhat disappointing. The Dutch striker has not recorded the goal return he would have been hoping for and his hold-up play has left a lot to be desired.

Despite grabbing an assist in the 2-0 win over Leeds United at the weekend, the 30-year-old was an incongruous presence again up front. Standing at 6ft4in, Weghorst is expected to be able to hold play up and bring his teammates into the game, but his lay-offs were poor and he lacked an understanding with the players around him.

No one can question Weghorst's work rate since he joined the club, and the effort has been present in all of his outings. However, there is a feeling that the Netherlands international needs to do a bit more for United. Having registered a goal and an assist in his opening eight appearances, he has, so far, been unable to reach the heights he set while on loan at Besiktas in the first half of the season.

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Weghorst scored nine goals and grabbed four assists in 18 appearances for the Turkish giants, so while it came as somewhat of a surprise that the 30-year-old was the stop-gap forward Erik ten Hag opted to sign until the end of the campaign, he arrived at Old Trafford in good form.

His fellow striker Anthony Martial has impressed when on the pitch for United, having recorded eight goal contributions in 14 matches. However, the Frenchman has struggled with a number of different injuries and he has missed 20 games through injury already this season.

With Martial lacking fitness and Cristiano Ronaldo having left