Italian football expert Nicky Bandini profiles Manchester United's summer signing from Atalanta as he continues working towards full match fitness.
Player analysis - Rasmus Hojlund
As a child Hojlund never could stop moving. Man Utd's new striker was, according to his father Anders, a bright and cheerful little boy who did well at school and found it easy to make friends. The only challenge was keeping him occupied.
“Despite being an excellent student, he struggled to stay still,” Anders told gianlucadimarzio.com earlier this year. “It was natural that he got involved in sport to let that energy out.”
By the age of four, Rasmus had been signed up for football classes with boys a year older. Before long he took up tennis, badminton and swimming. It was not hard to see where he got it from. Anders played football professionally in Denmark for more than a decade while his mother, Kirsten Winther, had been a track and field athlete.
On weekends Rasmus and his younger brothers Emil and Oscar watched their dad’s matches before bringing home as many friends as they could for matches of their own. The basement of the family home was converted into a mini football pitch.
“They would play until they all collapsed,” said Anders. Theirs was the house where everybody slept over.
Hojlund: I've been a United fan since I was a small boy
But Rasmus’s feet were already itchy. He made his professional debut for his hometown club FC Copenhagen aged 17, and at 18 he joined Sturm Graz in the Austrian top flight. Seven months later he signed for Atalanta. That was August 2022. By April, he was telling reporters: “I hope to play in the Champions League as soon as possible.”
He should realise that ambition this autumn, after joining United for a fee that could reportedly rise to £72million. It is a jaw-dropping sum for a player who scored only nine goals in Serie A last season.
United gamble to pay off?
That number needs to be put into context. Hojlund only started 20 matches last season, beginning the campaign as a back-up to Duvan Zapata and only establishing himself in the first XI after the winter break as his team-mate struggled with injury.
Add in the goal he scored in the Coppa Italia and we can say that Hojlund found the net once for every 189 minutes he spent on the pitch.
Not bad for a player who began the season a teenager, if still not as dazzling as one might expect to command such a fee. The Red Devils are taking a gamble, believing Hojlund has the potential to blossom into a world-class centre-forward.
He has the tools. Hojlund is blisteringly fast, recorded by Atalanta’s coaching staff running 100 metres in under 11 seconds. Many United supporters will have seen the footage of his coast-to-coast run against Lazio in February, when he set off from the edge of his own box and blazed past every opponent – including those with a 40-yard headstart – to go through one-on-one against the 'keeper.
See: Hojlund's blistering run against Lazio
He failed to score on that occasion, and improving his consistency in front of goal will be an important next step. Hojlund has, predictably, drawn comparisons with Manchester City's Erling Haaland, another tall, left-footed, Nordic No 9 capable of dominating opponents physically.
But United’s summer arrival would be the first to stress how far away he is from meriting such a comparison.
“We have certain things in common in our way of playing,” Hojlund said in an interview with Sky Sports in Italy. “But he is so strong, he scores in every game. I need to improve a lot to be as good as him.”
Aerial improvement
Hojlund wants to get better in the air, agreeing with the suggestion of Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini that he does not use his height as effectively as he could. His back-to-goal play was another area of focus in Bergamo.
Despite having played as a midfielder and No 10 in youth football, Hojlund was most effective for Atalanta attacking the penalty box, using his acceleration and instincts to find space behind opposing defences.
United’s scouts will no doubt have been encouraged by the player’s willingness to work on refining his game. Although Hojlund has expressed admiration for Haaland, the player he most looks up to is Cristiano Ronaldo, whom he has described as “a great personality, a winner on the pitch, serious and concentrated on always improving. This is the example I want to follow."
Those words were said in the middle of last season. Hojlund did not know then that he would be following Ronaldo’s footsteps to Old Trafford, and relocating to a third different country since leaving home 18 months ago. Then again, he never was good at standing still.
Nicky Bandini (@nickybandini) is a sports writer and broadcaster who specialises in European football
