Man Utd have agreed a fee with Atalanta for the transfer of striker Rasmus Hojlund.
If you’re Rasmus Hojlund, one of Europe’s most highly-rated young strikers on the verge of completing a dream transfer, you probably don’t care much about all those doubting your ability or why the club is signing you. But, the tiniest part of you might wonder what you’ve done to deserve such derision before even kicking a ball at Old Trafford.
But rest assured, it’s actuallyManchester United’sthinking which is being called into question by many, as the club once again gears up to spєɴԀ a humungous sum of money on a player who might one day prove to be worth it, but simply isn’t just now.
Hojlundburst into the mainstream earlier this year when he bagged five goals in his first two starts for Denmark. The comparisons to fellow ScandanavianErling Haalandwere quickly made and he was soon earning interest from all the biggest clubs in Europe. United included, who added them to their striker short-list ahead of the transfer window.
The 20-year-old had made the switch to Atalanta in 2022 and had a promising if unremarkable debut campaign in one of Europe’s top five leagues. Hojlund finished the season with nine Serie A goals, with a further six coming at his previous club He displayed dynamism, pace and energy and showed the potential to perhaps become one of the game’s top forwards.
But potential comes with no guarantees and a possible fee of £72million for a player with such little experience and so few goals is a hard calculation to make sense of. A striker was United’s biggest priority ahead of the window and though they are finally closing in on one, he is not the proven goalscorer the team is crying out for – yet.
Hojlund hasn’t yet reached double figures in a top league and has just 27 goals in senior football. The fee will further increase the intense pressure already on the man who has been bought to solve the lack of cutting-edge in attack and that’s before you consider he is being signed instead of Harry Kane.
SpєɴԀing so much on Hojlund would already seem questionable but to do so when it appears that spєɴԀing an extra £20-30million (and a whole lot more in wages, in fairness) would get you the best Premier League striker of the last decade is bewildering.
The England captain has 20 goals in each of the last nine seasons and reached 30 in four of those. As well as being lethal in the box he is also a sublime playmaker with a quality range of passing. He is a reliable, guaranteed goal scorer and the sort of signing which would transform United into title contєɴԀers overnight.
Hojlund, for all his promise, simply isn’t. At least not yet. When a proven, extraordinary talent could be available, it makes taking such a risk even more reckless.
These are all justified complaints that many doubters of the transfer hold. It’s not to disparage Hojlund as a player, but question whether he is really the move United should be making at this time, especially given the figures involved.
It’s given Hojlund the unenviable task of having to prove them wrong but in Erik ten Hag he has the manager with the track record to help him do that.
The manager has a great record of spotting talent in young players and nurturing them to superstardom. Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Antony, Ryan Gravenberch, Mohammed Kudus and plenty more have all flourished under his guidance. It’s not just young players either, just look at how much Marcus Rashford improved last season, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Bruno Fernandes, Luke Shaw, and Diogo Dalot.
Ten Hag has shown he can identify players with excellent qualities and then accentuate them as much as possible. If he sees a player in Hojlund, then in all likelihood there is a player there. He has earned backing and trust in his signings.
