Yep. I think our rivals are kinda pissing themselves too, at the state of us. Weghorst in January and now a 20 year old with 9 goals in Seria A, as the face of our rebuild and title tilt. Hojland may turn out to be great. It's a massive gamble.
He may turn out like Timo Werner, 10 goals in 56.
Shevchenko, scored 28 goals in Serie A when he moved to Chelsea and couldn't buy a goal for love nor money. 9 league goals in 2 years. fecking
Shevchenko couldn't hack the prem!
Fernando Morientes (CL winner 3X) flopped at Liverpool moving from Spain.
Mario Jardel scored 42 league goals in the season before moving to Bolton, and he never scored in the PL (only cup games, 3 goals).
Soldado had 30 goals in 46 appearances for Valencia, moved to Spurs, and left 2 years later having scored 7.
Pizzaro had scored 100 goals at Bayern, moved to Chelsea on a free, scored 2 in 21 games, and was shipped out.
These players above had already physically matured, and didn't need to add mass or muscle or whatever, and had several seasons as starters, and were prolific scorers. They were known quantities. There are lots of lots of examples, I don't know why Hojland's case is unique. I don't see the reason for the hype. He's a good prospect, sure, but is he break-the-bank, lead the line for United good?
2023 Serie top scorers** :
Player | Goals | Appearances | Age |
Osimhen | 26 | 32 | 24 |
L. Martinez | 21 | 38 | 25 |
Dia | 16 | 33 | 26 |
Leao | 15 | 35 | 24 |
Giroud | 15 | 33 | 36 |
Lookman | 13 | 31 | 25 |
Nzola | 13 | 32 | 26 |
Kvaratskhelia | 12 | 34 | 22 |
Sanabria | 12 | 33 | 27 |
Player | Goals | Appearances | Age |
---|
Immobile | 12 | 31 | 33 |
Berardi | 12 | 26 | 28 |
Sanabria | 12 | 33 | 27 |
Dybala | 12 | 25 | 29 |
Orsolini | 11 | 32 | 26 |
Zaccagni | 10 | 35 | 28 |
Koopmeiners | 10 | 33 | 25 |
Beto | 10 | 33 | 25 |
Lukaku | 10 | 25 | 30 |
Vlahovic | 10 | 27 | 23 |
Player | Goals | Appearances | Age |
---|
Arnautovic..... | 10 | 21 | 34 |
Hojland | 9 | 32 | 20 |
| | | |
| | | |
**Yes, this is not a break down of goals per minute, and these players don't all play the same position as Hojland.
Hojland is the youngest of the lot, but most of these players have years left in 'em (not Immobile, Giroud, Arnautovic). Hojland's 9 goals seem to be worth a lot more than the other players' higher tallies.