Schmeichel rips into Man Utd over decision to sell ‘goal machine’ in stunning display of ignorance or bias
Gary Neville is missing a trick in not bringing Kool-Aid on board as sponsors of The Overlap, such is the volume being drunk by their guest pundits. Peter Schmeichel has just hit out at a Manchester United transfer decision in either a display of astonishing ignorance and extraordinary patriotic bias.
It’s open season at Man Utd. Michael Carrick is set for a ‘stay of execution’ at the club after a run of six defeats and just two victories in 12 games at the start of the season.
He’ll be in charge for Chelsea and – if that’s not a complete disaster – will likely stay on for the games against Roma and Aston Villa before an international break which will allow the poor sap who’s set to replace him a bit more time to get their feet under the table.
Carrick was cheered by the Man Utd faithful as he left the Old Trafford pitch following the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth, before a quite remarkable tone shift resulted in those very same fans vociferously booing their own players.
Wayne Rooney has launched into a very sweaty rant about the Man Utd players. He “would love to go in that dressing room and say, ‘What the f*** are you all doing?'” and we would dearly love that too.
But we would also like to ask Schmeichel a similar “what the f***?” question after he claimed Manchester United should be full of regret for selling “goal machine” Rasmus Hojlund. Sorry, what?
“Rasmus Hojlund was a goal machine. And he will be a goal machine everywhere,” Schmeichel said on The Overlap.
“He’ll have periods where he doesn’t score but he will score a lot of goals. He’s young and from childhood, completely a Manchester United fan. He would do anything for this football club and he played in the period where he had no service.
“He had players there who very openly would not even pass it to him. A young kid, who needed to be coached in order to maximise his great talent which I think he has, I see him playing for Denmark.
“This is a fantastic player. What do we do? Well, we got the head of recruitment in from Red Bull [Christopher Vivell, United’s director of recruitment] and what does he do? He brings in his player.”
Not only is Hojlund not currently a goal machine, he never has been. He got five in 32 games for Copenhagen, 10 in 34 for Atalanta, 26 in 95 for Man Utd and has 19 in 56 for Napoli.
Benjamin Sesko – Vivell’s player – has scored a goal every 144 minutes for Man Utd. Hojlund managed one every 246 minutes for the Red Devils and is scoring at a very similar rate for Napoli.
Schmeichel said it was a “shame” at the time when Man Utd let Hojlund leave for the Serie A side on loan in 2025.
“I think the deal is if Napoli qualify for the Champions League then they are obliged to sign Rasmus Hojlund permanently,” Schmeichel said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
“So that’s a bit of a shame because I like Hojlund by the way and think he could have been absolutely fantastic.
“But I don’t think he wants to come back and I don’t think he can because Napoli have already qualified for the Champions League.”
We know why Schmeichel’s in Hojlund’s corner – they’re both Danish. But we would advise the Man Utd legend to choose his words more carefully when he’s looking to lavish a compatriot with praise in future.
Just as Hojlund isn’t a “goal machine”, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is not an assist king, Joachim Andersen isn’t a twinkle-toed dribbling wizard and Mads Hermansen isn’t the greatest shot-stopper the world has ever seen.
