Talking about Manchester United’s player transfer policy in the Erik Ten Hag era, there is one transfer that seems paradoxical, namely the transfer of Rasmus Hojlund in the summer of 2023. It is called that, because the player from Denmark came with “hype” as “another version of Erling Haaland”. Coincidentally, Haaland and Hojlund both come from the Scandinavian region, are tall, fast and have similar last names.
Actually, this high hype is quite excessive, because his performance statistics at club level are not as impressive as Haaland’s. In fact, compared to the Norwegian bomber, Hojlund’s performance record looks ordinary. While Haaland scored more than 80 goals in two seasons with Borussia Dortmund, Hojlund was only able to score 10 goals in his single season at Atalanta.
Indeed, Dortmund and Atalanta are not equal in terms of history and achievements, but both have a good reputation when it comes to developing young players. Atalanta was even able to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League, even though they didn’t have a big budget.
If there is anything that makes this hype make sense, it comes from his performance record with the Danish National Team. His record of 7 goals is slightly more than Haaland (6 goals) and Team Dynamite qualified for the Euro 2024 finals, while Norway did not qualify. At Manchester United, as far as the 2023-2024 season goes, Hojlund was able to score 5 goals in 6 appearances in the Champions League, but that didn’t help much, because the Red Devils were eliminated as the bottom team in the group phase.
In domestic competition, the number 11 player has yet to score a goal in 14 matches (12 matches in the Premier League and 2 matches in the Carabao Cup). Even though he is still 20 years old, this performance record is clearly worrying for a striker. Darwin Nunez, who often appears sluggish, has scored 7 goals and 6 assists from 23 appearances in the same period with Liverpool.
Indeed, this FC Copenhagen academy graduate was initially unable to click straight away, because he suffered a back injury when he first joined Manchester United. His progress was also disrupted by a muscle injury in November 2023.
However, with the transfer price being expensive, this level of performance is clearly a big question mark. Instead of being Erling Haaland, Hojlund could be Antony volume II at United in terms of performance.
Incidentally, apart from both arriving in the Erik Ten Hag era, Antony’s performance was somewhat sluggish at Old Trafford. In the 2022-2023 season, the Brazilian player was only able to score a total of 7 goals and 2 assists from 39 appearances.
In the 2023-2024 season, this former Ajax Amsterdam player is still fasting for goals even though he has appeared 17 times in all competitions.
This performance is clearly considered sluggish, because United bought him from Ajax for a transfer fee of 85 million pounds. Fortunately, Hojlund doesn’t have problems off the field like Antony.
At only 20 years old, Hojlund still has room to develop. However, since Manchester United’s problems are quite widespread in various aspects, it seems that United has the potential to repeat transfer blunders, as happened with Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho.
Coincidentally, Martial and Sancho both came to Old Trafford as talented young players. Martial arrived from AS Monaco in 2015 for 36 million pounds (plus bonuses) as the most expensive 19 year old teenager labeled “The Next Thierry Henry”.
Unfortunately, despite making more than 300 appearances, the French player’s performance has been inconsistent and made worse by a number of injuries. As a result, the Red Devils plan not to extend the striker’s contract, which expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season.
Meanwhile, Sancho, who arrived in 2021 from Borussia Dortmund, also has promising capital. The brilliant performance in the German Bundesliga made the favorite Manchunian club willing to spend 73 million pounds in transfer funds.
The problem is, since returning to England, this Manchester City academy graduate has become familiar with inconsistent performance and disciplinary problems. As a result, his name was recently exiled from the main team.
This situation could happen to Hojlund, if his performance still doesn’t improve. The only advantage is that the notoriously sadistic British media has not yet labeled it a flop, which is probably only a matter of time.
On the other hand, Hojlund’s transfer and his initial performance at Manchester United is an actual example of the bad side effects of hype, plus the crazy standards of transfer prices for players in the current era, because it can make a talented player who is still “raw” worth very much like an existing star player. So.
This is what makes it look like speculation. If the hype proves correct, the price will be high naturally, but if it’s wrong, this is a form of fraudulent investment.
ASL
