Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has claimed that Ruben Amorim’s choice is now clear on who should be the starting striker at the club.
Since joining United, Amorim has adopted a heavy rotation policy, as he tries to get a look at as many players as possible to assess who will and won’t work in his new system.
One player who is certainly passing the test so far is Rasmus Hojlund, who has scored five goals since the Portuguese’s arrival.
He came off the bench last night to rescue the Red Devils with a fantastic brace in a 2-1 away win over Viktoria Plzen.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Hargreaves claimed that Amorim has now found a solution to his number nine position.
“Rasmus Hojlund is Ruben Amorim’s best option down the middle, that is for sure. I think Amorim had that idea beforehand as Viktor Gyokeres [at Sporting] is a really similar profile in terms of physicality and size. Hojlund is a great athlete as well.”
“There are things that himself and Joshua Zirkzee can work on but right now it is Hojlund, Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes are the ones creating opportunities for United.”
This is not the first time the former England international has waxed lyrical over the Dane as after his brace against FK Bodø/Glimt, he stated that Amorim will be fantastic for his development.
Commenting on the overall significance of the victory the pundit claimed, “it’s a massive win for Manchester United in an almost must-win game. There was plenty of pressure on Ruben Amorim’s team to win this.”
The win momentarily took United up to 5th in the standings and after all the matchday fixtures were completed, they finished the night in 7th place, knowing two more victories would see them certainly qualify automatically to the last 16 and avoid the playoff round.
The 2008 Champions League winner then claimed that both Andre Onana and Matthijs de Ligt were at fault for the host’s goal.
“De Ligt really didn’t want the ball. In the end, Onana plays a poor pass. But Ruben Amorim wants his centre-backs to go in there and receive the ball. De Ligt is not comfortable receiving it on the half turn and Onana plays a poor ball and on the wrong side.”
The Red Devils will next be in action on Sunday when they take the short trip to the Etihad to play Manchester City in yet another crucial encounter.
Featured image Gabriel Kuchta via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
