Manchester United are desperate to get their hands on Rasmus Hojlund.
The 20-year-old Atalanta ace has been making waves in Italy, netting nine goals in his debut Serie A season.
Consequently, Hojlund has been slapped with a colossal £86million price tag by his club. Erik ten Hag is desperate the land the young Dane after the £47m acquisition of Andre Onana.
But why is this the case?. With help from Opta Analyst, SunSport will take you through five reasons why United want to add him to their ranks.
Danish Haaland
Hojlund’s style of play has seen him dubbed the Danish Erling Haaland. The Manchester City strikers combination of pace, power and physicality have left a legion of defenders unable to stop him.
Former FC Copenhagen star Hojlund shares many similarities with his Scandinavian counterpart, combining a 6ft 2in frame with speed and power to leave defenders in his wake.
Indeed, Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini previously drew a direct comparison between the pair, saying: “Hojlund has this spirit, energy, intensity, but also the technical quality that is just remarkable. He still has so much margin for improvement, too. He has very similar characteristics to Haaland. He is so quick, he’s under 11 seconds over 100m and that’s not even trying very hard. Considering his height, he has a low centre of gravity. I am convinced he’ll have a great career, he just gets stronger every day.”
Hojlund also happens to share a cannon of a left foot and blonde hair with the Norwegian. He also has a strong shot conversion rate of 17.1 per cent with 18 goals from 105 shots.
Cocky, natural finisher
The style similarities don’t end there either. Looking at his Serie A shot map last season, Hojlund took the majority of his shots inside the penalty area.
A number of strikers such as Harry Kane are happy to drop deep and get involved with build-up play. However, Hojlund displays more of a instinct to sniff out a goal from close range.
His shot map shows he took just three shots from outside of the penalty area last term. The quality of his shot choices show this too, with Hojlund registering an average shot Expected Goals rating of 0.18.
Speed demon and strong as an ox
Team-mates have also highlighted his ability to be a pain in his opponents neck due to his sheer physicality.
Club captain Rafael Toloi commented: “Hojlund is a great talent, physically strong and with great speed. He has everything he needs to be great and is working with the right coach and with the right team.”
Marten de Roon has joined this praise too, adding: “I didn’t expect him to be this strong. When he joined, his qualities were noticeable, but maybe his first touch and conditioning were a bit lacking. He has incredible quickness and the stamina to go for the entire 90 minutes now.”
Called best emerging talent in Europe
Hojlund has also impressed on the international stage. After being dropped for the World Cup, Hojlund netted five goals in two games during March’s Euro 2024 qualifiers including a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Finland.
This being said, one of the biggest appeals for the Dane is his huge potential for growth. Hojlund is far from the finished article, with both his link-up play and pressing numbers needing some improvement before he can truly be considered a top striker.
His raw goal output needs improvement, with his 18 goals in 69 league games far from elite level. He could also do more in terms of creating chances for team-mates, having laid on just 45 in his career. However, with the creative and passing talent in the United squad from the likes of new captain Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, these deficiencies should be accommodated fairly easily.
Fits Ten Hag style
But what about United’s needs?. The Red Devils badly need a reliable forward who can bag them a number of goals.
Only two players last season – Fernandes and Marcus Rashford – broke the ten-goal mark in all competitions. Loanee Wout Weghorst proved to be very profligate in front of goal, while Anthony Martial was too injury prone to truly be relied upon upfront.
Ten Hag is known to favour a tall striker, having had success with the model at Ajax with the likes of Sebastien Haller. United have already seen a cash-plus-player deal rejected by the Bergamo outfit.
However, they are determined to get their man and are set to approach with their first official offer amid reports Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in a deal.
United do have alternative targets should they fail to land Hojlund, though it is the evidence is clearly shows why he is the No.1 target to lead the club’s attack going forward.
Source: thesun.co.uk
