Erik ten Hag transfer plan shows he's avoiding Jose Mourinho's Manchester United mistake

Manchester United have a history of spending big money on strikers with varying levels of success over the years.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was signed for £19m in the summer of 2001, a year after a knee injury had scuppered the Dutchman's move to Old Trafford. A tally of 150 goals in 219 games yielded a Premier League title, the FA Cup and League Cup in five years before he was sold to Real Madrid.

Fast forward to 2008 and United shelled out even more on Dimitar Berbatov to prise him away from Tottenham Hotspur. Daniel Levy's negotiating tactics were on full show with this transfer with it completed late on deadline day - it is something that United are wary of and have not forgotten when it comes to a certain Harry Kane this summer.

Berbatov won a couple of league titles with United. His goal tally of 56 in 149 games was by no means earth-shattering but steady, and he hit the heights of 21 in his penultimate campaign with the Reds but was let go in the summer of 2012.

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That summer saw a changing of the guard for United as Robin van Persie was poached from rivals Arsenal. The £24m United paid for the Dutchman paid dividends immediately when the Premier League title was secured as Ferguson retired in 2013.

Jose Mourinho was put in a similar position four years later in 2017 when he parted with a large fee to bring in a new focal point for the team. £75m was parted with to bring Romelu Lukaku to United from Everton.

At a glance, Lukaku's goalscoring figures in the two seasons he was at United are not too bad at all. In nearly 100 games, the Belgian scored 42 times with a strike rate approaching one every two games.

But though Lukaku's numbers are not too