COMMENT: Eric Choupo-Moting and Manchester United. Whether he’s a stop-gap, or if it’s simply a floater, there is some substance to speculation linking the 33 year-old to Old Trafford…
For the moment, it’s a floater. Claims emerging from France this past week that Erik ten Hag is taking a close look at the Bayern Munich centre-forward. With his contract running down and his form and goalscoring on the up, United’s manager is said to be eager to bring the former Stoke City striker back to England in 2023.
Putting two and two together and getting five? Not quite. Intermediaries say there is interest. Choupo-Moting has been mentioned by United representatives. And when we say floater, it isn’t our French colleagues randomly throwing something out there, but United confidants quietly raising the prospect to see if the subject is receptive.
But on the face of it, bringing Choupo-Moting back to England in January will be tough. Indeed, even over the summer, should Ten Hag’s interest (however unlikely) remain, tempting the veteran away from Munich will be difficult.
The player Premier League fans recall from The Brit no longer exists. It’s now Eric Choupo-Moting of Bayern Munich, formerly of PSG. A first-choice for coach Julian Nagelsmann. A player with a record of six goals from the last seven games – and one who has the admiration of everyone inside Bayern.
Given his impact, you can understand Ten Hag’s interest. Just like his August attempt for Marko Arnautovic, the Bologna centre-forward, came out of the blue, this move for Choupo-Moting runs something similar.
The age is the same. The style also. And as this column has noted in the past, Ten Hag – as he showed with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at Ajax – can get a tune out of a veteran centre-forward and successfully extend a career. Like Arnautovic, who worked with Ten Hag at FC Twente, Choupo-Moting crossed paths with the Dutchman as a young player. Ten Hag well aware of Choupo-Moting as he came through at Mainz, while he was in charge of Bayern Munich’s reserve-team.
So there’s a lot to give this move a foundation. But beyond the player himself, the story does offer an insight into the type of centre-forward Ten Hag will seek to sign in 2023.
As we say, if it isn’t in January, a move to Old Trafford for Choupo-Moting is unlikely. Indeed, just as Bayern’s powerbrokers Hasan Salihamidzic, their sporting director, and president Herbert Hainer were letting it be known how valuable they considered Choupo-Moting, it was breaking in England that Ten Hag had big plans for his next No9.
Dusan Vlahovic, of Juventus, and RB Salzburg’s Benjamin Sesko are the names now being mentioned as Ten Hag targets. Interest in both make sense. Though it will take something extraordinary for RB Leipzig to break their deal for Sesko – which was settled before the summer market shut.
But beyond any younger transfer target, what Choupo-Moting does offer is an understanding of what Ten Hag will seek in his next centre-forward. He wants a goalscorer, sure. But he also wants a team player. A selfless player. He wants his No9 to boast the intangibles that don’t appear in the stats zone. Just consider what Kurt Zouma said of Choupo-Moting when eyebrows were raised over his move to PSG.
Zouma, now with West Ham, played with Choupo-Moting at Stoke as a Chelsea loanee and at the time insisted the Cameroon international was worthy of the Parisians: “I’m not surprised to see him play at Paris Saint-Germain. I know his qualities. He is a player who deserves to be where he is. In training, I was struggling with him. He is technical for his size. He’s going fast.
“He can play as a 9 and on the wings. He is a team player, he fights for the team, he goes for the pass before scoring. He is a locker room player. He is exceptional.
“In the locker room of PSG, he must do a lot of good. Through his experience, where he has gone, he must lead by example.”
Couple Zouma’s comments from three years ago to what we hear from Bayern today and you get a picture of the type of player Ten Hag wants to work with.
Says Hainer: “Choupo is outstanding, but not only because of his goals. When you see what he does, how he holds and distributes balls. He helps us win.”
Salihamidzic also: “We’re just happy, it’s great to see him like this, that he’s now getting the chance. He currently gives us exactly what we need. He does what he has to do – and he scores goals. It’s just so much fun for us.”
And like Zouma, Bayern teammate Marcel Sabitzer echoes: “The way he’s going now, he’s our clear No9. Did he deserve it? We’re all happy for him, he’s a good guy for the team.”
So you see the picture forming. Like Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Casemiro. Choupo-Moting is a “locker room player”. A player as impactful on the pitch as he is off it. And a team man to boot.
This is the Ten Hag model. The new United model. The shift away from the marketable personality type becoming more and more apparent. As his influence grows, so does the manager’s control of transfer policy.
And in Choupo-Moting, whether he’s a stop-gap, or if it’s simply a floater, you again see the direction Ten Hag wants to take it.
