Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United

[JPRouve]

The sort of striker you buy when you already have an established starter

Not sure he’s ready to play every week and that’s what we need at the moment

I would say that it's the complete opposite. It's the type of striker that you don't purchase when you have an established striker because he needs to play every week. If you have an established striker, you leave that kind of players alone.

 

[2 man midfield]

Can’t help but be reminded of when we badly needed a winger, so signed Amad and Pellestri and didn’t see them again for 2 years.

 

[JPRouve]

Can’t help but be reminded of when we badly needed a winger, so signed Amad and Pellestri and didn’t see them again for 2 years.

The contexts are different. Both players were at different stage for their development, Amad was almost exclusively a primavera player. While Pellistri had one professional year under his belt in Uruguay.

 

[Lynty]

I would say that it's the complete opposite. It's the type of striker that you don't purchase when you have an established striker because he needs to play every week. If you have an established striker, you leave that kind of players alone.

Agree

This is the type of striker who Dortmund or Brighton sign and either becomes a success or flops and we never hear the name again.

If he went to Brighton and scored 15 goals, you’d have a thread on here saying why we didn’t just take a punt - our scouts a rubbish etc but people forget that for ever Mitoma or Mac-Allister - Brighton have taken punts on huge flops such as Jahanbakhsh or Locadia.

It’s a game of risk v reward.

 

[Widow]

Didn't notice that. So he's Haaland lite?

When you order Haaland from wish

 

[Invictus]

The sort of striker you buy when you already have an established starter

From Højlund's point of view, it makes little sense to sign for a club that already has an established striker (with the expectation to deputize from the bench). He should rather stay at Atalanta, or join a club that will start him in practically every match. Considering his age (20-ish is when a lot of center forwards take the next step in their development), physical profile and growth trajectory (and the fact that he doesn't actually have a lot of starting minutes under his belt), he needs to play as often as possible (like Benzema at Lyon, Suárez at Groningen and Ajax, Eto'o at Mallorca, Håland at Salzburg and Dortmund, Lewandowski at Poznań, Cavani at Palermo). Training with top players and coaches is good, but there is simply no equivalent for regular game time (in terms of finetuning his in-game thinking, optimizing his movement and positioning, gaining confidence as a goal scorer and so forth).

 

[We need an rvn]

When you order Haaland from wish

I'd still prefer Haaland from Wish over Wegh...

 

[We need an rvn]

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Honestly i'd probably see it as more 40mill + addons to make it the 60 mill euro's offer, that's if this is even true

exactly my thoughts. No way we should be making a first offer of 60m when Haaland went for less than that after the seasons he had a Dortmund. 40m plus add ons is more than a reasonable offer given his record.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I’m inclined to agree.
The team just has to contribute more.

Agreed too. This lad looks like he could end up being an excellent player and while still raw I'd be more excited getting someone like him. Also, the team has to be scoring far more across the board. The number of chances we miss, especially if you look at the last 10 games of the season really was incredible. Add this lad, maybe an experienced ST on a freebie and then concentrate on getting the team to contribute goals more.

 

[Idxomer]

Agree

This is the type of striker who Dortmund or Brighton sign and either becomes a success or flops and we never hear the name again.

If he went to Brighton and scored 15 goals, you’d have a thread on here saying why we didn’t just take a punt - our scouts a rubbish etc but people forget that for ever Mitoma or Mac-Allister - Brighton have taken punts on huge flops such as Jahanbakhsh or Locadia.

It’s a game of risk v reward.

The difference is Brighton would get him from Denmark for 10-15m and wouldn't wait for his price to reach 50m.

 

[Adisa]

There are also lots of examples of top clubs signing very young strikers, throwing them into the starting eleven and them flourishing.

 

[golden_blunder]

I'll be honest and say I know nothing about this guy, unless he's Haaland Mk II though I can't see a 20 year old with less that 100 professional games and 20 something goals being the main striker for a club like United

You would probably have turned your nose up at solksjaer then

 

[Adisa]

exactly my thoughts. No way we should be making a first offer of 60m when Haaland went for less than that after the seasons he had a Dortmund. 40m plus add ons is more than a reasonable offer given his record.

Doubt our offer would be that high but Halaand is a poor yardstick. He had a clause and City paid another €40m to his agent and father on top of the fee.

 

[Marwood]

You would probably have turned your nose up at solksjaer then

He said being the main striker.

Ole was never the main striker. Wasn't signed as such.

 

[Lyng]

When you see some all touch vids or specific match highlight vids it's clear hes very very raw and not near ready to lead our line.
There was a Danish football expert on Stretford Paddock saying the same thing.

I would take that football experts comments with a grain of salt. His knowledge of players outside of the danish Superliga is extremely superficial and the magazine he represents basically spread every rumour under the sun regarding danish football and players.

That having been said he is raw and he is no where near as clinical as Haaland. His dribbling and passing is better than Haalands though, and he usually has a lot more touches in a match than Haaland.
While they both share strong physique and a keen nose for goals they are very different players.

 

[CantonaManc]

Good player but he is still not ready to lead our attack ! If he is going to be our only ST addition to our squad well the circus will be full.

Would like United to sign him only for back-up option and future starter.

 

[golden_blunder]

He said being the main striker.

Ole was never the main striker. Wasn't signed as such.

He wasn’t intended to but he certainly put himself in contention in the first season

Solskjær scored 18 Premier League goals in 33 appearances (25 of which were starts) for United in his first season – the club's top goalscorer for that campaign

 

[L1nk]

Good player but he is still not ready to lead our attack ! If he is going to be our only ST addition to our squad well the circus will be full.

Would like United to sign him only for back-up option and future starter.

He probably won’t want to come if he doesn’t get to lead the attack. Same for Kolo Muani etc these players need to be trusted and then they flourish, even in their down moments you help them get through it and they eventually reward you

 

[Brightonian]

He's starting to be my favourite of the remaining options, with Kane and Osimhen both unavailable or unaffordable.

He's a proper, unconditional #9, which too many of our other rumoured targets (Kolo Muani, for example) are not. It's far and away the most important thing about the signing. We already have quality attackers, we just need someone solid and effective to anchor the attack. The fact we thought even a basic journeyman like Weghorst was a good idea shows that Ten Hag understands this. Martial has hardly been dazzling when played this season but even so if he'd just been consistently fit to play it would have been transformative.

He's also a nice middle-ground between Kane and Osimhen in style, from what I've seen. Little bit of strength and feet and vision like Kane to receive, hold-up and then assist. But also pace and aggression to break the offside trap, and tireless little runs in the box to score tap-ins and headers in the way Osimhen so often does.

He'd score plenty of easy and medium chances, and that's what we need. Rashford and Bruno (and you would hope at least one of Sancho/Antony/Garnacho) will create and finish more challenging chances, and create breakthroughs. This guy will get the bread and butter goals going in, and that's where we lag so far behind prolific sides like City and Arsenal.

 

[Adisa]

Good player but he is still not ready to lead our attack ! If he is going to be our only ST addition to our squad well the circus will be full.

Would like United to sign him only for back-up option and future starter.

Who are we going to sign as the main striker?

 

[UnofficialDevil]

He said being the main striker.

Ole was never the main striker. Wasn't signed as such.

True. Not the same situation in any way.

 

[T00lsh3d]

From Højlund's point of view, it makes little sense to sign for a club that already has an established striker (with the expectation to deputize from the bench). He should rather stay at Atalanta, or join a club that will start him in practically every match. Considering his age (20-ish is when a lot of center forwards take the next step in their development), physical profile and growth trajectory (and the fact that he doesn't actually have a lot of starting minutes under his belt), he needs to play as often as possible (like Benzema at Lyon, Suárez at Groningen and Ajax, Eto'o at Mallorca, Håland at Salzburg and Dortmund, Lewandowski at Poznań, Cavani at Palermo). Training with top players and coaches is good, but there is simply no equivalent for regular game time (in terms of finetuning his in-game thinking, optimizing his movement and positioning, gaining confidence as a goal scorer and so forth).

He’ll definitely get minutes. We’re so injury prone up front and let’s not forget we played every 3 days for half of last season. There’s minutes for everyone!

Except martial, because he’s always crocked

 

[Castia]

I would say that it's the complete opposite. It's the type of striker that you don't purchase when you have an established striker because he needs to play every week. If you have an established striker, you leave that kind of players alone.

We don’t have the squad for him to be starting every week. We’re desperate for a goal scorer not somebody who could take years to develop as a first team striker

At 20 you don’t need to be playing every single week we’ll probably play 70 games next season he’ll get plenty of minutes.

 

[Castia]

From Højlund's point of view, it makes little sense to sign for a club that already has an established striker (with the expectation to deputize from the bench). He should rather stay at Atalanta, or join a club that will start him in practically every match. Considering his age (20-ish is when a lot of center forwards take the next step in their development), physical profile and growth trajectory (and the fact that he doesn't actually have a lot of starting minutes under his belt), he needs to play as often as possible (like Benzema at Lyon, Suárez at Groningen and Ajax, Eto'o at Mallorca, Håland at Salzburg and Dortmund, Lewandowski at Poznań, Cavani at Palermo). Training with top players and coaches is good, but there is simply no equivalent for regular game time (in terms of finetuning his in-game thinking, optimizing his movement and positioning, gaining confidence as a goal scorer and so forth).

He would get minutes here even behind an established striker we’ll possibly play 70 games next season. We shouldn’t be relying on a 20 year old inexperienced striker just coming to the PL that would be absurd for both the player and ourselves.

City did similar last summer they bought Haaland and Alvarez, the latter still gets plenty of game time although Haaland is first choice

 

[Red-Man-Walking]

Surely if Kane and Osimhen off the table then we could do worse than him and Thuram on a free? As said above between PL, CL and the cups we are probably playing plenty of games next season. Obviously both a risk but surely an upgrade on a broken Martial, Wout and the version of Ronaldo we had last year in the absence of an available top class forward.

 

[RuudTom83]

Slow and steady improvements are the course to go...he will improve the team/squad for sure (albeit that's not saying much when it was Martial and Weg last season)

Next season will be another Top 4 challenge..so its the perfect time to get a younger CF into the team, him and Rashford could share the workload.

Would need the LW to step up, but that would somewhat explain the Mount interest.

CF - Rashford/Hojlund
LW - Garnacho/Sancho/Mount(when he isn't playing midfield)

 

[Marwood]

He wasn’t intended to but he certainly put himself in contention in the first season

Solskjær scored 18 Premier League goals in 33 appearances (25 of which were starts) for United in his first season – the club's top goalscorer for that campaign

Yeah Ole had a surprisingly good first season but the posters point was signing a 20 year old to be our starting striker. It's a big ask.

Ole was 23 and wasn't bought as first choice.

So its not the best comparison.

 

[JPRouve]

We don’t have the squad for him to be starting every week. We’re desperate for a goal scorer not somebody who could take years to develop as a first team striker

At 20 you don’t need to be playing every single week we’ll probably play 70 games next season he’ll get plenty of minutes.

At 20 and when you are on an ascending curve you need to be considered a starter. It's fairly rare for player of his age to not be starters and develop into anything. But most importantly in his case, you would be halting his current growth for no reason.

 

[Eplel]

Potential is unfolded when you give players the chance to shine, and don't throw them under the bus when not performing.

What did we get out of Amad, Pellistri, VDB etc? On the other hand, did we profit from insisting on McT instead of giving minutes to Hannibal or similar players?

What matters with Hojlund is that he is the right profile of striker. Someone who fills the area, can be a poacher, and works well with the rest of the team.
As much as I like Martial, he's really frustrating as a CF, as he always moves exactly where Rashford is positioned.

 

[Kaos]

Looks like the sort of player that goes to Dortmund or Brighton and becomes valued at £80million+ in a few years.

The trouble is I'm not sure we're best placed to elevate him to those heights. Perhaps Ten Hag could help him thrive, but I can't help but think of Amad and Pellestri who have been loan jockeys for us for the most part.

I'd be happy signing him alongside a more established forward to take the pressure of him.

 

[mctrials23]

exactly my thoughts. No way we should be making a first offer of 60m when Haaland went for less than that after the seasons he had a Dortmund. 40m plus add ons is more than a reasonable offer given his record.

You must be on the wind up here. Haaland would have gone for £150m plus on the open market.

 

[golden_blunder]

Yeah Ole had a surprisingly good first season but the posters point was signing a 20 year old to be our starting striker. It's a big ask.

Ole was 23 and wasn't bought as first choice.

So its not the best comparison.

Absolutely it’s a big ask and that’s why we as fans should give him time if he doesn’t hit the ground running. Anything is a huge upgrade on Wout!
I also think, particularly for strikers, they need game time to grow and iron out inconsistency.
personally I’d be happy with him and an experienced player on a 1 year deal. Get Kane next year for free

 

[L1nk]

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[Il_Cecchino]

Better than Vlahovic. He has higher potential. For sure he has better tecninque and is faster.

 

[RatPack]

I am not sure if Hojlund is the right choice.

But any finished top line striker like Kane and Oshimen will cost in excess of 100m and only a few of these available. Further history has shown even these players do not always hit the ground running. Kane is for me the only almost sure bet, but with the price and salary we would be over paying for a player of his age.

If you cannot get the completely finished product we will be looking at the next best thing which is either big potential young players like Hojlund or slightly older strikers who has been good in smaller leagues or teams and hope they can step up. For both of these type of strikers you will be paying 50-90mill.

So for me I guess I have to trust ETH to get the player he has the highest believe in and has the attributes he needs from a striker, and then give them a little time to settle in. Also important to get them early in the transfer window to start the work quickly.

 

[Castia]

At 20 and when you are on an ascending curve you need to be considered a starter. It's fairly rare for player of his age to not be starters and develop into anything. But most importantly in his case, you would be halting his current growth for no reason.

He's simply not for us then

We aren't in a position to develop a starting striker we need goals.

 

[Red in STL]

You would probably have turned your nose up at solksjaer then

Solksjaer joined a United team that had Cantone, Cole and McClair, he wasn't expected to be the main striker, huge difference to be joining now with Rashford who isn't really a CF and Martial, Højlund may very well be a top striker in years to come but to expect him to jump in to our team and be successful is asking a lot

 

[JPRouve]

He's simply not for us then

We aren't in a position to develop a starting striker we need goals.

Everyone is in that position and everyone has done that at some point. Also we are talking about a player that has a pretty good goal average, unless you are exclusively in the business of relatively old and expensive strikers, someone like Hojlund is at the ideal stage. A very young, not too expensive 15+ league goals over 38 games.

 

[Remember the geese]

He's simply not for us then

We aren't in a position to develop a starting striker we need goals.

Of course he is for us. There aren't any World Class strikers available. So we either sign a B-rate striker who ultimately isn't good enough for us or put our faith in a young player who potentially could be.

 

[Zed 101]

He's simply not for us then

We aren't in a position to develop a starting striker we need goals.

He is easily an upgrade on nothing which is what we had last season, sorry Martial and Weghorst so actually less than nothing, the question is whether if we go for him (and I hope we do) and nobody else or if we are in the market for more than one striking option, I have said before signing Sabitzer with a view to playing as a striker would be another cheap option, he was very effective playing in that position for the few minutes we used him there