Manchester United next stop in Weghorst's unique career

Your average footballer, Wout Weghorst is not.

Whether being labelled a "fool" by Lionel Messi at the World Cup, failing to rescue Burnley from Premier League relegation last season, or sharing anti-vax propaganda during a profilic spell at Wolfsburg, the Dutch striker has popped up on many a radar in recent years.

Now, a decade on from signing his first professional contract at the age of 20, Weghorst's late-bloomer story arc is set to take another late twist as he closes in on a loan move to Manchester United.

According to The Athletic, the 20-time English champions have agreed a deal with Turkish side Besiktas, where Weghorst has been on loan this season since Burnley's relegation, to bring the 30-year-old to Old Trafford until the end of the season.

Patience and persistence pays off

Having never come through a youth academy, Weghorst is an anomaly in modern football. By the age of 18, the highest level he'd played at was the ninth tier of Dutch football, and he admitted: "I was never the biggest talent, but I never gave up."

Despite making his mark in the Eredivisie with Heracles and AZ Alkmaar, questions were still asked of his style of play and an aggressive demeanor that no one was spared from - referees, teammates and coaches alike. It wasn't until Wolfsburg took a chance on him in 2018, aged 26, that Weghorst began realizing his full potential. 

Then Wolves head coach Bruno Labbadia had been looking for a talisman to transform Wolfsburg from a relegation-threatened side back into contenders for European qualification. He found it in Weghorst, a target-man with a never-say-die attitude whose debut season produced 17 goals in the Bundesliga as Wolfsburg finished sixth, qualifying for the Europa League. 

Only Wolfsburg's legendary Bundesliga-winning duo of Edin Dzeko and Grafite boasted better single-season returns in the club's history with the Brazilian telling the Wolfsburger Allgemeine newspaper at the time: "Wout is great, I love the way he plays. He's focussed, he's got technique, he's got power – I like it."

Weghorst: more than just a big striker

Undeterred by Labbadia's surprise departure at the end of that first season, Weghorst's game took on another dimension under successor Oliver Glasner, since a Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt.

"Wout is without a doubt the biggest goal threat I have ever coached," Glasner admitted before highlighting that "he works incredibly hard for the team and isn't too proud to run the extra meter."

Well-schooled in the pressing and gegenpressing style of the German top flight, Weghorst proved himself to be more than a classic 18-yard-box poacher, regularly topping the charts for distance covered without detracting from his goalscoring prowess: 16 goals in his second season was impressive, but 20 in his third saw Wolfsburg qualify for the Champions League and Weghorst break back into the Dutch national team.

The 2020/21 campaign didn't come without its complications though as Weghorst was forced to apologize for sharing anti-vax propaganda on his Instagram account at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The post reportedly cost the Dutch striker a high-profile move with both Arsenal and Tottenham weighing up their options at the time. 

Head strong and hot-headed

The statement was in keeping with a straight-shooting personality that has been forged by a career of proving doubters wrong and one that takes no prisoners, as witnessed when the Netherlands came close to scuppering Argentina's World Cup dreams in Qatar. 

Weghorst's dramatic brace off the bench stoked the fires of an already contentious quarter final with Lionel Messi interrupting a post-match interview to brand him a "fool".

"I always fight with everything I have," Weghorst said of the incident. "I did that in that match as well." 

"I had some moments with Messi. He was surprised at these moments, and he didn't like it. I wanted to show this respect after the match. But he wasn't really open to that, he was still a little bit angry with me. But I see it as a big plus that he knows my name now!"

A temporary solution for United

He may be new on Messi's radar, but not on that of compatriot and current Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who hails from the eastern Dutch town of Haaksbergen, just 20 kilometers south of Weghorst's hometown, Borne, and who came up against Weghorst on multiple occasions when in charge of FC Utrecht. 

Cristiano Ronaldo's departure in December has left United reliant on the in-form Marcus Rashford for goals, but otherwise short on attacking options. Weghorst may not occupy quite the same stellar bracket as Rashford, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland or Robert Lewandowski, but the market for out-and-out strikers isn't huge and a loan-deal until the end of the season appears a sensible solution.

But it's not been simple. United initially began talks with Weghorst's parent club, Burnley, but, given that Besiktas had agreed their own option to purchase Weghorst outright at the end of the season for €10m, the Turkish side also insisted on compensation.

"With the victories over Adana Demirspor and Kasımpasa, we caught a good mood again," Besiktas president Ahmet Nur Cebi said earlier this week. "In this critical period, I will not leave the team without a striker. If we agree on the terms after getting a quality striker, we will send Weghorst away. Otherwise, Weghorst will stay in the team."

Besiktas, for whom Weghorst has scored nine goals in 18 appearances, including three in four games since the World Cup, will therefore receive €2.5m from United, which they are likely to invest in Cameroonian striker Vincent Aboubakar, who himself is free to leave Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr following the arrival of Ronaldo.

It's taken a complex solution to a complex situation to bring Wout Weghorst to Old Trafford. But then again, the Dutchman's unorthodox career has never been about doing things the easy way. 

Edited by Matt Ford