‘Cavani’s what Man Utd need, Martial isn’t a striker’ – Ince backing ‘world class’ Uruguayan to shine

Edinson Cavani is “what Manchester United need”, says Paul Ince, with the experienced Uruguayan considered to be a “world class” alternative to Anthony Martial.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has continued to favour a 24-year-old Frenchman as his starter in a No.9 berth.

He does, however, boast a prolific South American on his books, with Cavani having been snapped up as a free agent over the summer.

At 33 years of age, questions have been asked of whether the former Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain star was the right option for United.

His impact off the bench through eight appearances so far is silencing those doubters, with three goals recorded – including a match-winning brace last time out against Southampton.

Ince believes Cavani will have an important role to play for the Red Devils across the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.

The former United midfielder claims “Martial is not a centre-forward”, making it imperative that Solskjaer does have someone who knows how to lead the line on his books.

“Listen, he's world class,” Ince told Premier League Productions of Cavani.

“He's not one of those that's going to run channels or work the centre-halves but what he does is... if you put the balls in the right position, he will score you goals.

“He's probably what Man United need, a proper centre-forward. Martial is not a centre-forward.

“He can play along the lines but he's not an out-and-out centre-forward.

“They tried it with [Odion] Ighalo, it didn't really work. This kid is world class.

“He knows the areas to go into, he can sense goals, he sniffs out goals and I think he will score a lot more goals for United this year.”

While backing Cavani to thrive at Old Trafford, and asking further questions of Martial’s ability to be a leading frontman, Ince believes a 33-year-old forward will continue to be used in a super-sub role.

He added: “Listen, I'm sure Cavani's done enough to warrant a start, but it depends how [Solskjaer] sees it.

“Cavani's in his 30s, he can't start every game, but what he can do is come on and make an impact like we saw [at Southampton].

“Whether he can start from the beginning, I'm not too sure. I think he might want to, but he's got options now.

“When Ighalo came over from China, he was coming on for the last 10-15 minutes because he wasn't too sure about him.

“Now he knows he can throw someone like Cavani on, 45 minutes, and he will get goals. It's good to have those problems, that's for sure.”