When Manchester United signed Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta in the summer of 2023, it appeared that they had found the solution to their goalscoring woes.
The Red Devils had finished third in the previous campaign, but scored just 58 goals in the league, the lowest among the top five.
Hojlund, meanwhile, was a rising star in Serie A, and the Premier League giants spent €75m to take him to the Theatre of Dreams. Interestingly, the Dane was over the moon with the move because he was a childhood United fan.
Hojlund enjoyed an impressive debut campaign at Old Trafford, finishing with 16 goals from 43 games in all competitions.
Playing through injury
Unfortunately, Hojlund had an inauspicious start to the 2024/25 season. The Dane missed the beginning of the campaign after picking up an injury during pre-season.
When he returned, the 22 year old had lost his scoring boots. Hojlund finished the campaign with just 10 goals from 52 games and was part of the team that struggled under Amorim.
According to The Athletic, the Dane played with a foot injury in the final months of last campaign. The injury would have required three weeks of rest, which, given the intense end to the season, wasn’t possible.
Instead, Hojlund shouldered on, as much to his own detriment as the team’s.
Things were further complicated when Joshua Zirkzee picked up a hamstring injury and was ruled out for the rest of the season.
With the Red Devils under a mini-crisis in the striker’s department, Hojlund started nine of the final 10 games of the season, even though it appeared that he wasn’t fully fit.
The player was reportedly keen to play through his injury as he wanted to help the club, but was evidently lacking the requisite fitness to do so.
Grimsby game sealed the deal
Over the summer, Hojlund worked with Harry Maguire and his brother Oscar in Portugal, eager to arrive at the club in good shape. While he was involved in pre-season, the Denmark international never made it to the matchday squad under Amorim this season.
United were keen to rope in a new No. 9 this summer and secured the signature of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig in August. Hojlund initially wanted to stay and compete with the Slovenian for a place in the starting XI.
However, things changed after the unexpected defeat to Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup. With the Red Devils exiting the tournament, it was clear that games would be harder to come by for Hojlund, especially since there was no European football this season.
The Athletic add that he spoke to the club hierarchy after the defeat at Blundell Park, and he was informed that he is no longer part of the plans.
“A meeting was held between Hojlund and key decision-makers at United after [the defeat to Grimsby], where the 22-year-old was directly told that he no longer had a future at Old Trafford.”
Consequently, Hojlund was on a plane to Napoli that weekend and soon completed a loan move to the Serie A champions.
The Dane has already scored his first goal for the Partenopei in the 3-2 win over Fiorentina last weekend. He is expected to start the game against Manchester City in the Champions League on Thursday.
Many fans will believe that Hojlund could have done a lot better had there been an experienced striker in the squad. United will now hope that they can avoid a repeat of the situation with Sesko, who has endured a slow start to life at the Theatre of Dreams.
Featured image Patrick McDermott via Getty Images
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Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United fan since 2000. In his playing days, he was an attacking midfielder with a proclivity for the back heel. Right now, however, he prefers to operate as a regista. Deepungsu has been writing about the Red Devils, Football, and other things since 2009. His favourite Manchester United player is Paul Scholes.
