Will Harry Kane be Man Utd's next Eric Cantona? Red Devils urged to 'break the bank' for Bayern Munich striker with need for 'leader to stick his chest out' made clear

Back in the 1990s, Sir Alex Ferguson needed a larger-than-life character to lead by example at the Theatre of Dreams. Enigmatic French forward Cantona was the man charged with the task of adding those qualities to the Red Devils fold alongside the likes of Paul Ince, Roy Keane and Steve Bruce.

A remarkable era of success was enjoyed, but Ferguson stepped out of the dugout when retiring in 2013. Humbling regression has been endured on the red half of Manchester since then, with United currently sat 13th in the Premier League table under Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim.

Questions have been asked of the club’s recruitment, as more big money has been spent, with a proven No.9 still required. Various options are being mooted in that department ahead of the next transfer window, with Teddy Sheringham offering his take on who would represent shrewd business.

The 1999 Treble winner told casinoapps.com: "If it’s between [Matheus] Cunha or [Viktor] Gyokeres, just for the fact of the experience of the Premier League, I would go for Cunha. Gyokeres might have done it in the Portuguese league and he's scoring goals and he's confident but all he needs to do is come in like Hojlund and not get any service for four games and start getting battered and it’s ‘who have we bought?’ and then the pressure's on him, and if he doesn't know how to handle that, then that is a problem.

"You need a leader. You need a top player to stick his chest out and go like Cantona and I did when we came to Man United and just say, I was born to play at this place. Not ‘will I make it at this place?’ There are all different characters in football, and you need someone that's going to get out there and lead the line. That’s why you need to go and get a player like Harry Kane. That’s what United used to do, they used to go and sign the best players on the market."

Sheringham went on to say of a fellow frontman that followed in his illustrious footsteps at Tottenham and went on to become Spurs’ all-time leading goalscorer: "Go and break the bank and get Harry Kane still. He'll stand up there and he'll say: ‘Give me the ball, give me some service and I'll score some goals. You do your job, and you do your job, and we'll have half a football team here. If you don't, then we won't. So, follow me and we'll be alright’."

While Kane would undoubtedly raise the collective standard at OId Trafford, he is tied to a contract through to 2027 at German giants Bayern Munich. They are presenting the England captain with opportunities to land long-awaited trophies, making it unlikely that he would want to join a rebuilding project in Manchester.