Jason Cundy: Manchester United should replace Radamel Falcao with Tottenham's Harry Kane

If I was Louis van Gaal, I'd already be looking for replacements for Radamel Falco. It's becoming increasingly clear that the knee injury he suffered a year ago has finished him as a top-level striker – he's completely lost the pace and movement that made him a great No.9.

Luckily for Van Gaal and United, Falcao is only on loan, so they don't have to shift him off the books. If the scouts are doing their jobs, United should already be whittling down a list of potential targets to replace him.

In fact, I might even think about bringing in two strikers. Robin van Persie isn't playing as badly as Van Gaal, but he's a long way past his best. He'll be 32 this summer and you can see age is starting to dull his clinical edge. He looks leaden-footed, and one of United's biggest problems at the moment is the lack of movement he and Falcao are providing up front.

But who can United buy? Who is up to the job of replacing one – perhaps two – of the most famous strikers in world football?

Well they've got to start by identifying the attributes they want. I reckon they need someone in his mid-twenties, someone similar to Van Persie – not the RVP of today, but the player we saw at his peak at Arsenal five years ago.

It's difficult to find a player like that. In fact most of the top players are already tied to the top clubs. But there's one player I think United should take a long look at.

Harry Kane may be one of Tottenham's own, as the fans love to sing, and he celebrates every goal as passionately as the fans on the terraces. But I think United should have a go at signing him. For me he's got all the attributes to be a top striker, and I mean everything.

More than a target man

People look at him and see a target man, with his size and his heading ability, but his movement's great and he's deceptively quick, certainly a lot quicker than I thought he was. You rarely see him beaten for pace. In fact, he's got quicker when it comes to running with the ball at his feet.

It would be really difficult for United to prise Kane away from White Hart Lane. Daniel Levy is a tough negotiator, as United have found out before when signing Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov. Tottenham are building a bright young team at the moment and it will take a look of money to spirit one of the main building blocks away.

When you think Everton paid £28m for Romelu Lukaku, it's clear United would be looking at a huge transfer fee for Kane. But they've shown in the past that they're not afraid to buy young British and Irish talent. Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Luke Shaw... whenever a top young player emerges from these islands, United generally pull out all the stops.

Edward Woodward and his fellow board members would certainly have to pay over the odds for Kane, but, if United are serious about returning to the top of English and European football, it'd be a price worth paying.

Jason Cundy was a hero at Stamford Bridge as a no-nonsense centre-half during the early 1990s. Today he presents the popular Sports Bar radio show on TalkSPORT, and you can find out more about his work with the station here.

He also commentates on Chelsea games for Chelsea TV, working with fellow IBT columnist David Chidgey,and is a prolific member of the Twitterverse.