Man Utd star ‘sneaks into debate’ as ‘new’ Erling Haaland ‘alternative’ amid ‘plan B’, ‘chosen one’ claim
According to reports, Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund has emerged as an ‘alternative’ to Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
One of Man Utd’s main priorities during last year’s summer transfer window was to sign one or two new strikers.
They only ended up signing Hojlund. He joined the Premier League giants from Serie A outfit Atalanta for an initial fee of around £64m.
There was a lot of pressure on Hojlind heading into this season and Erik ten Hag has been made to rely on the inexperienced striker too much during his debut campaign.
Ten Hag has openly admitted that he wanted to sign another new striker in January but United’s financial fair play issues prevented them from bringing anyone in.
So Hojlund’s recent upturn in form has come at a great time. The Denmark international has five goals and two assists in his last five Premier League matches. Across all competitions, he has 13 goal involvements in his 29 appearances.
After the striker scored in United’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, Roy Keane told Sky Sports: “The manager has been forced to play him week in and week out – it’s been a big help.”
He added: “He’s on fire, it took him a few months. It’s more settled and he’s got confidence. I believe every time he’s on the pitch, he thinks ‘I’m going to score a goal for Man United’ – he’s showing good form.”
As Keane said, Hojlund is “on fire” at the moment and it has not taken long for the hasty Spanish media to jump on this and link him with Real Madrid.
Spanish outlet Defensa Central have jumped the gun to suggest Hojlund has emerged as a ‘new’ alternative to Haaland and Kylian Mbappe for Real Madrid.
Mbappe is out of contract in the summer and Real Madrid are considered to be his most likely destination despite Premier League interest. As for Haaland, his agent has openly admitted that the La Liga giants are viewed as a “dreamland” for her clients and a move there feels inevitable at some stage.
But it is indicated that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has ‘suggested’ Hojlund to chief scout Juni Calafat, who will apparently ‘follow up on’ this recommendation.
It is claimed that Hojlund has ‘sneaked into the debate’ to ‘replace’ Karim Benzema but it is noted that the Man Utd star ‘needs to show consistency’ for ‘Real Madrid to consider him as a reliable plan B for Mbappe and Haaland’ as being the ‘chosen one’ to succeed the veteran striker will be a tough task.
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Earlier this month, Ten Hag admitted that Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo “need time” but must “be hungry” to improve.
“Players need time, especially young players like Rasmus and Alejandro,” said United boss Ten Hag.
“They need time but also they need a team, so those two facts were not there in the first part of the season. We had to make a lot of adjustments in our way of playing, so by stages it was difficult to serve the offensive part of the team.
“When that happens, it can go really quickly that players are going to develop and to progress, like we have seen. From the start I was confident they have the potential to do what they are now doing, and now it’s about keeping moving, keeping going, be hungry.
“I think they enjoy to play together. There is adventure. They are a danger. They want to do it together and to pass to each other so that everyone can play to their qualities and everyone can score goals.
“It’s great if they want to do it together because that is the key then we can have a lot of pleasure from this.”
