Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United

[Crimson King]

I mean is this even that controversial an opinion? If and this is a massively big if, Martial is fit(and not just fit to kick a ball but fit to play and actually run. Not the version we had toward the end of last season who couldn't really run but the version at the start of Ten Hag's tenure) he'll start, there is no doubt about it.

Realistically though, that won't be the case because Martial is unlikely to ever be fit let alone 100% fit to even string a few games together.

I think early on he'll start more often than not if he can get fit, but that's a big IF. Gives Højlund a chance to settle in, and in an ideal world you'd introduce him later on in matches against tiring defenders. I'm not sure we'll have that luxury though...

Martial still scored 9 goals last season. Doesn't sound like much, but he averaged a goal every 160 minutes.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Sancho or Rashford would be who starts ahead of Hojlund. I’m guessing it will be Sancho at first

 

[Berbaclass]

Sancho or Rashford would be who starts ahead of Hojlund. I’m guessing it will be Sancho at first

Probably

 

[sglowrider]

I cannot believe we still have people saying oh if Martial is fit blah blah blah.

He's an utter crock, it's been 3 years since he was fit for an extended period of time. People need to forget this idea he's ever going to be fully fit again .

Even when he does get on the pitch , he seems terrified of running or any contact so he's fairly useless unless you can lay a tap in on a plate for him.

O ye, of little faith.

We have the new doctor from the rarely-crocked Gunners. He will cook some magic potions and suddenly we have an 18y.o like Martial playing.

 

[Strelok]

Sancho or Rashford would be who starts ahead of Hojlund. I’m guessing it will be Sancho at first

Imagine no Hojlund in the lineup against Wolves. Half the caf would go mental 'why ETH doesn't start him' 'we paid 70m for him ffs' etc. The match thread would be real fun

 

[VP89]

Imagine no Hojlund in the lineup against Wolves. Half the caf would go mental 'why ETH doesn't start him' 'we paid 70m for him ffs' etc. The match thread would be real fun

No, I think it's been well briefed not to expect Hojlund to be thrown in straight away.

 

[sglowrider]

Martial will play less than 20 games for United from this point until he leaves. There’s no way he starts any game that is a ‘must win’ so probably cup matches or bottom sides.

Sancho may be the new False 9. But Martial with be our Stealth 9.

 

[Borys]

Imagine no Hojlund in the lineup against Wolves. Half the caf would go mental 'why ETH doesn't start him' 'we paid 70m for him ffs' etc. The match thread would be real fun

Strange take, most of the Caf believes Hojlund will not be a starter in early stages of the season - mostly not to put too much pressure on the young lad.

 

[dejans]

So. The shirt number.
#4?

 

[VP89]

I mean is this even that controversial an opinion? If and this is a massively big if, Martial is fit(and not just fit to kick a ball but fit to play and actually run. Not the version we had toward the end of last season who couldn't really run but the version at the start of Ten Hag's tenure) he'll start, there is no doubt about it.

Realistically though, that won't be the case because Martial is unlikely to ever be fit let alone 100% fit to even string a few games together.

It's just a nothing point because Martial is an absolute crock.

 

[Raw]

So. The shirt number.
#4?

#1 is available

If Fred does leave then that'll leave #17 open, his number at Atalanta.

 

[sglowrider]

Strange take, most of the Caf believes Hojlund will not be a starter in early stages of the season - mostly not to put too much pressure on the young lad.

This. If ETH gradually eased a vet like Casemiro into the league, it's almost guaranteed that he will drip him into the starting 11.

 

[Dazzmondo]

In line with what a top level 18-20 year old will score in their debut season, too. Martial for instance got 11 in his first PL season here.

Martial played mostly on the left that season didn't he? Switch to striker at Utd only happened in more recent years I think (under Ole I believe). 11 league goals for a winger is more impressive than a striker.

 

[RuudTom83]

If he can control the long balls from Onana and quickly pass it to either wings then EtH has an entirely new way of playing.

Add that to United's strong left side and we might be in for a treat this season.

 

[Henandez14]

If he can control the long balls from Onana and quickly pass it to either wings then EtH has an entirely new way of playing.

Add that to United's strong left side and we might be in for a treat this season.

Who do you think can better control Onana's balls between Martial and Holjund?

 

[Alemar]

Who do you think can better control Onana's balls between Martial and Holjund?

Hojlund

 

[sglowrider]

Who do you think can better control Onana's balls between Martial and Holjund?

Martial for sure

 

[Bogga]

Waiting for him to get his number so I can use him in my odds or evens team...

 

[Vault Dweller]

What's there to be baffled at? He's an elite CF prospect. Top CF prospects are very rare. Bayern are signing a 30 year old after they went a year without a striker because their mid 30s striker left to go to Barca. Madrid lost their mid 30s striker and are using a striker less formation now, waiting to sign Mbappe who is a wide forward anyway. City have Haaland who along with Osimhen are literally the only under 30 year old strikers who are ready for top teams. Before getting Haaland, City went a year without a striker too. Liverpool don't really have a striker, just a bunch of wide forwards. Arsenal have Jesus who is a CF and works hard but doesn't score much.

The CF market is shit is what it is. Football stopped developing strikers so when you get the chance to sign a top prospect, you simply pay up if you want him.

You have Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski, Osimhen, Benzema who are the top level strikers currently. 3 of them are 30+, 1 is at City and the other is getting quoted at 150m+, and was bought by Napoli before he did much for 70m anyway.

You have a bunch of wide forwards who teams try to adapt to make do at CF, to varying degrees, like Jota/Gakpo, Isak, Kolo Muani, even Mbappe, who aren't proper #9's and don't really do that hold up play and being a focal point (or to varying levels).

You have mid tier players like Lautaro, Vlahović, Toney, Ramos, Watkins, Mitrovic who are being quoted absurd fees without having top level potential, so you would pay elite level prices for Europa League production out of them as their ceiling.

Then you have a few youngsters with big potential, like Hojlund and Sesko. And of them, Hojlund is the one of the very few on this entire list who is a proper #9 with all the tools to be a top center forward. Think of it like paying to get a CF in the mold of Dzeko, Lewandowski, Ibra, Kane, Drogba, Cavani, etc at the age of 20. None of these guys did anything at that age, most broke out at 22/23 (Kane at 21). The second these guys break through, they are over 100m and pretty much unobtainable if you didn't get them beforehand (unless you are Haaland who puts a clause in). It's securing a rare profile, elite talent that we happen to be in dire need of as well, and a player who may not be all that far away from stepping up either.

As for who starts... Martial doesn't have the pace or strength or movement in the box that Hojlund has, despite the age. Yeah Martial will get his gametime when fit which is good. Hojlund is barely 20. By the time Martials contract is out, Hojlund might just be ready to be the full time guy. He gives us that threat in behind that only Rashford offers in our squad, he gives us proper #9 movement in the box, he gives us a focal point.

Excellent post mate.

 

[EricEricDjembaDjemba]

So. The shirt number.
#4?

Give him #11

 

[Dazzmondo]

Imagine no Hojlund in the lineup against Wolves. Half the caf would go mental 'why ETH doesn't start him' 'we paid 70m for him ffs' etc. The match thread would be real fun

I'm not expecting Hojlund to start personally. He's barely going to get to train with the squad. I reckon it'll be Sancho for the 1st game.

 

[Alemar]

So. The shirt number.
#4?

That’s being kept for Amrabat surely

 

[buchansleftleg]

Sancho may be the new False 9. But Martial with be our Stealth 9.

"Stealth" as in rarely seen, hugely expensive to maintain, very fragile and temperamental and with questionable long term results....yep that's about right

 

[rimaldo]

another job gone to a foreigner. this country is producing record numbers of strikers; junior doctors, teachers, rail workers, postal workers, and yet here we are, bringing in a scandinavian.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

All players are immediately divisive on the Caf, because the Caf always has that vocal element that are ready to have a moan about literally anything. There isn’t a single transfer in the last decade that didn’t come with a fair share of doomsayers. The list of what people get wound up about and the red flags they find is as interminable as it is often contradictory. And of course when someone complains about everything, they are going to sometimes be right; which just reinforces the self aggrandising rhetoric and deepens the nihilistic malaise.

The amount of premature ejaculation that will occur on here this season after a missed Hojlund chance or a poor Mount performance, is going to be almost as revolting as the inevitable “I told you so”s. Never mind the deafening silence after a good performance, because the resident quim burgers always have another target to move on to.

Let us never forget that this is the place that gave us the now infamous “Rashford, new contract or sell” thread, in which an unhealthy amount of posters insisted we should release him on a free due to his overwhelming and incurable shiteness. Those of us who pointed out the utter madness of this suggestion were mocked and vilified for extolling values such as patience and reason, because as Mark Twain said; “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience.”

So no, the divisiveness of a signing is not indicative of anything to do with the quality of a signing. It’s just a by product of the enormous amounts of mouth frothing, knee jerking, miserable stupidity regularly on display here. I genuinely believe that there is a sizeable portion of this forum that actually want to see Hojlund fail so they think they can look good by predicting we overpaid. Of course they won’t look good, ever. Not now in moaning about the fee, or later doing their tribalistic “I knew better” song and dance. In both instances they will look like the embittered, toxic, hate-fans that they really are.

@simonhch only just seen this but well said!

 

[sglowrider]

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[Mickeza]

Be fascinating to know what the maximum period of time is over the last 2.5 years that Martial has gone between injuries. I don’t think he’s been fit for more than about 4 games consecutively.

 

[SydneyRoughDiamond]

He wears 11 for Denmark. So wouldnt be surprised if he has that number.

 

[dejans]

#1 is available

If Fred does leave then that'll leave #17 open, his number at Atalanta.

I guess this will be the case with #17

 

[Nero]

He wears 11 for Denmark. So wouldnt be surprised if he has that number.

Mase will keep that.

 

[dejans]

He wears 11 for Denmark. So wouldnt be surprised if he has that number.

Could be.

 

[Scorpy]

Should take 1+8 like Zamorano at Inter.

 

[Rozay]

#19 makes sense for me with Varane taking the #4.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

He will take Fred’s #17.

 

[The Purley King]

Sancho may be the new False 9. But Martial with be our Stealth 9.

Martial is a stealth footballer. Expensive and Largely invisible.
Someone said in another thread last year that he plays like he is on a cigarette break. Perfect description

 

[DWelbz19]

Tweet

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Tweet ignores Lukaku, who was 24 when we signed him

 

[Red in STL]

I'm not, I was being sarcastic. I think most fans were gutted. Was comparing how fans view signing thesedays. Stats and all that.

Anybody around in those days should have known you were being sarcastic, I'd say pretty much every United fan were gutted we didn't get Shearer, twice.

On the flip side, had we got him I doubt we'd have got Eric, overall I thing Eric had more of an impact than Shearer would have, the influence he had on the class of 92 can't be overstated

 

[7even]

What's there to be baffled at? He's an elite CF prospect. Top CF prospects are very rare. Bayern are signing a 30 year old after they went a year without a striker because their mid 30s striker left to go to Barca. Madrid lost their mid 30s striker and are using a striker less formation now, waiting to sign Mbappe who is a wide forward anyway. City have Haaland who along with Osimhen are literally the only under 30 year old strikers who are ready for top teams. Before getting Haaland, City went a year without a striker too. Liverpool don't really have a striker, just a bunch of wide forwards. Arsenal have Jesus who is a CF and works hard but doesn't score much.

The CF market is shit is what it is. Football stopped developing strikers so when you get the chance to sign a top prospect, you simply pay up if you want him.

You have Haaland, Kane, Lewandowski, Osimhen, Benzema who are the top level strikers currently. 3 of them are 30+, 1 is at City and the other is getting quoted at 150m+, and was bought by Napoli before he did much for 70m anyway.

You have a bunch of wide forwards who teams try to adapt to make do at CF, to varying degrees, like Jota/Gakpo, Isak, Kolo Muani, even Mbappe, who aren't proper #9's and don't really do that hold up play and being a focal point (or to varying levels).

You have mid tier players like Lautaro, Vlahović, Toney, Ramos, Watkins, Mitrovic who are being quoted absurd fees without having top level potential, so you would pay elite level prices for Europa League production out of them as their ceiling.

Then you have a few youngsters with big potential, like Hojlund and Sesko. And of them, Hojlund is the one of the very few on this entire list who is a proper #9 with all the tools to be a top center forward. Think of it like paying to get a CF in the mold of Dzeko, Lewandowski, Ibra, Kane, Drogba, Cavani, etc at the age of 20. None of these guys did anything at that age, most broke out at 22/23 (Kane at 21). The second these guys break through, they are over 100m and pretty much unobtainable if you didn't get them beforehand (unless you are Haaland who puts a clause in). It's securing a rare profile, elite talent that we happen to be in dire need of as well, and a player who may not be all that far away from stepping up either.

As for who starts... Martial doesn't have the pace or strength or movement in the box that Hojlund has, despite the age. Yeah Martial will get his gametime when fit which is good. Hojlund is barely 20. By the time Martials contract is out, Hojlund might just be ready to be the full time guy. He gives us that threat in behind that only Rashford offers in our squad, he gives us proper #9 movement in the box, he gives us a focal point.

The best post by far in this thread.

Every club who buy a young talent takes a financial risk but it’s better to pay a higher fee and a lower salary then the opposite. If this doesn’t work out as we plan at least a we have a young striker with the right attributes on a reasonable salary has a higher re sale value and that gives us the opportunity to search for new upcoming talents again.

For the record I think Rasmus has all the tools to succeed long term as long as we give him the time to develop properly. The thing I like most is his attitude and willingness to improve himself, having CR7 (the player) as a role model means he knows that hard work and commitment is what it takes to go all the way to the top. Going from København’s reserve team to United in around 24 months is impressive. Great business by our scouting team and the club.

 

[tenpoless]

I hope he wont lose his aggresion because he joins a big club. Just fecking charge at them.

 

[doomy20]

#1 is available

If Fred does leave then that'll leave #17 open, his number at Atalanta.

Technically everything is available, we free to interchange numbers till start of the season (or 48 hours prior).

May sound stupid but I think it will be crucial to give him #9 or #11. We can’t buy a 80M striker and then let him play as #17 or some shit, while 9 and 11 are taken by players who will not even play much/contribute nothing to the club.