Wout Weghorst reflects on eventful first month at Man Utd
By Tom Gott
Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst has admitted he has enjoyed his first month at Old Trafford but is looking forward to celebrating his first home goal for the club.
The 30-year-old striker was a surprise winter addition to Erik ten Hag's squad, joining on a six-month loan from Burnley after United negotiated the termination of his previous loan deal with Turkish side Besiktas.
Since his move, Weghorst has featured nine times for United, scoring his only goal away from home in a Carabao Cup victory over Nottingham Forest.
“It’s good and I’m happy. That’s the thing that I wanted before I came here, to be part of it, to be important and the start overall is good,” Weghorst told United media.
“There’s room for improvement and things can go better but, as a beginning, the most important thing is that we’re keeping on track like we’re doing now by winning the games.
“Of course you want to have as much of a contribution in it by scoring goals and feeling important. There’s a little bit of room for improvement still, but we keep going.”
On his wait for a goal, Weghorst added: “Whether it’s the first one or not, at the end as a striker you want to score goals. That’s the best feeling, the most amazing feeling. That’s what you’re doing it for as a striker.
“I’m waiting for the first one here at Old Trafford. Unfortunately it’s taken a little bit too long already for myself but I have to stay quiet and just work really hard and do my thing.
“Then hopefully that will come soon. I think that will be a special moment.”
On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette preview Man Utd's Premier League clash with Leicester, whether Marcus Rashford is in contention for the Ballon d'Or and more.
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Whether Weghorst will actually end the season as a striker is up for debate. The towering Dutchman dropped into the 'number 10' role against Barcelona, playing behind Marcus Rashford with great success, and Weghorst admitted it's a position he has played before in his youth.
“Yeah, that was really in my younger days, to be honest," the loanee explained.
“I think I was like 17 or 18 at the time, playing still as an amateur in the Netherlands but no, [Ten Hag] mentioned it to me [at Leeds] at half-time that it could be an option to do some tactical switches.
“It happened in the second half and it went good for myself. It was actually new and the first time I’d played there but I quite liked it.
“The most important thing for me is to help the team. It helped us to win the match over there, doing also my defensive work.
“I took it on and, especially for the first time, I think I can be happy with it.”