Ten Hag reveals Man Utd transfer ‘progress’ in striker search as two targets emerge over Hojlund stance

Man Utd will not pay over £60m for Rasmus Hojlund this summer as Atalanta try to push the price up, according to reports.

The Red Devils are still looking for a long-term replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, who left last November following a controversial interview with Piers Morgan.

Wout Weghorst briefly tried to fill the gap left by the Portugal international but he returned to parent club Burnley at the end of the season.

Harry Kane was top of their shortlist ahead of the summer transfer window but Daniel Levy’s refusal to do business has seen them move onto Atalanta’s Hojlund.

Rumours of the Serie A club’s asking price has increased throughout the summer with the Daily Mirror now claiming that Atalanta want £80m for their prized asset.

But Man Utd are ‘refusing to pay more than £60million for their top striker target’ with the Red Devils viewing Atalanta’s valuation as ‘wholly unrealistic and are not prepared to budge from their valuation’.

READ MORE: Can Rasmus Hojlund diverge from massive Man Utd parallels with Anthony Martial?

Man Utd ‘will not be held to ransom by Atalanta and are looking at other options to strengthen their forward line’ with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani and Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus emerging as targets.

There have been reports in recent days that Ajax’s versatile forward Kudus could move to Chelsea this summer with Arsenal also making calls over a possible move.

When asked about Man Utd’s pursuit of a striker on Monday night, Erik ten Hag said: “We make progress, yeah. But you know how it works – when we have him, we will tell you directly.

“The only thing I can say is we do everything that’s in our power to get that done.

“”If it was up to me, yeah, as soon as possible. The earlier the better because we have to integrate him in the team, the way of play.

“In an ideal situation, he was already here but you do not always get ideal situations as a manager and you have to deal with the situation.”

Man Utd need a striker to bolster a goal-shy side, whose return of 58 was comfortably the lowest in the Premier League top-six. Marcus Rashford scored a career-high 30 club goals, but Ten Hag wants more from the rest of the team.

Ten Hag added: “We are underperforming there, and we are aware of it so others have to contribute also in that area but therefore we are looking for scoring abilities.

“I think with Mason Mount already we have a player extra who is capable of not only scoring goals but also to create, and to put play players like Rashford into position to score more goals.

“But as a whole team we have to score more.”