Rasmus Hojlund | Napoli

I have watched most of his games this seasonsand the improvement, is not entirely evident.

He is the same player in a much much worse league. The level is like two classes below the EPL so he could be the next Batistuta for two seasons and he still won't cut it in the EPL.

His first touch is not great, he still bumps into players and sometimes makes the odd run in exactly the other direction you expect him to do it.

The fact that Napoli is riddled with injuries doesn't help but there is no massive improvement to be seen. He seems to get in the box better and more often cause the space and the pace of the game in Italy allows you to do so.

All the other issues are still there, unless I'm half blind.
 
That was quite a recoup of the fee. I was expecting 30m on 10 installments.
 
Great news.

Same thing with Rashford and then we’ve got a decent start to the summer
 
Forgetting we paid £70m for him, but whatever. Will take what we can get
 
One win away from a mandatory buying clause being activated. Three matches left.
 
DOTA said:
He's not done very well really. We certainly want the deal to go through on the agreed terms.
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100%

38m if they win one of their remaining three. Unless we continue to do some crazy non-binding binding clauses like we did for Chelsea with Sancho.

If we managed to push Rashford and Hojlund in the same window it alone could fund a first XI midfielder. Ugarte, Onana, Bayindir, Zirkzee might cover the cost of another first XI midfielder. I hope the "transfer committee" is busy behind the scenes setting up deals.
 
Im pretty sure the Napoli sporting director said back in December that regardless of the CL clause, they would be looking to make his transfer permanent anyway.

Knowing Italian clubs he definitely meant that if the clause wasnt activated, they would try sign him permanently for 10 pizzas with cheese and salami spread out over 6 years.
 
Thought he was so bad here but had the right attitude. Has a semi decent season with Napoli but we’re gonna get quite a bit to him.

Hope it goes through!
 
He is still such a raw player. Works tirelessly but that's about it. 4 goals in his last 20 games.
 
Lay said:
He is still such a raw player. Works tirelessly but that's about it. 4 goals in his last 20 games.
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He hasn't improved at all since we signed him. In Serie A he has scored 10 in 30, scoring goals in patches with big droughts, struggling to get shots off and not getting involved in general play
 
The discourse around Hojlund shows just how little you have to do at other clubs to be seen as good compared to what you have to do at OT.

He is the same player but people keep saying how much he improved after leaving, we saw the same with Lukaku when he left and everyone acted like he had now become prime R9 when Chelsea brought him back only for that to be proven false pretty swiftly.
 
Apokalips said:
The discourse around Hojlund shows just how little you have to do at other clubs to be seen as good compared to what you have to do at OT.

He is the same player but people keep saying how much he improved after leaving, we saw the same with Lukaku when he left and everyone acted like he had now become prime R9 when Chelsea brought him back only for that to be proven false pretty swiftly.
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I think Hojlund has probably improved on his second season at United. But that’s only to a level we saw in his first season. And the hope was that he would kick on from there, which is starting to look like it won’t ever happen. And makes our deal with Napoli look quite astute. Which is a nice change.
 
Apokalips said:
The discourse around Hojlund shows just how little you have to do at other clubs to be seen as good compared to what you have to do at OT.
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This is largely cause he was going better at one point. When players are doing well people tend to get carried away but he was showing promise. They would not have been talking about him like they were if he was producing what he has the latter part of the season.
 
Dempsey19 said:
Im pretty sure the Napoli sporting director said back in December that regardless of the CL clause, they would be looking to make his transfer permanent anyway.

Knowing Italian clubs he definitely meant that if the clause wasnt activated, they would try sign him permanently for 10 pizzas with cheese and salami spread out over 6 years.
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Maybe but thankfully, looks like they’re almost guaranteed top 4. Think they need 4 points and one of their games is v bottom club so should be a done deal.
 
Apokalips said:
The discourse around Hojlund shows just how little you have to do at other clubs to be seen as good compared to what you have to do at OT.

He is the same player but people keep saying how much he improved after leaving, we saw the same with Lukaku when he left and everyone acted like he had now become prime R9 when Chelsea brought him back only for that to be proven false pretty swiftly.
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I don't think that's a fair take on things. A player is obviously expected to deliver more at United, if they were held to the same standard as other clubs, we'd be a mid-table team.

Mctominay is a great example of that - fans clamouring for his return and claiming we lost a great goal scoring mid, ignore the fact that he simply wouldn't be good enough to start in that position for us. An attacking mid at United is expected to do more (e.g. Bruno).

In fact, if it wasn't for the mandatory buy clause (hopefully without a break clause), am sure Napoli wouldn't want to pay 38m for Hojlund in his current form.
 
If Napoli beat Bologna next weekend the clause is triggered and we get our £38m Booking us a profit on the books on him (even if the addons have been triggered).
 
Apokalips said:
The discourse around Hojlund shows just how little you have to do at other clubs to be seen as good compared to what you have to do at OT.

He is the same player but people keep saying how much he improved after leaving, we saw the same with Lukaku when he left and everyone acted like he had now become prime R9 when Chelsea brought him back only for that to be proven false pretty swiftly.
Click to expand...

Having watched a lot of his games at Napoli I would say that he has improved overall but his ceiling was always going to be lower than we should be aiming for in a number 9. His involvement in build up play for Napoli is where he definitely is better than he was with us, maybe just better understanding with the players but he gets on the ball and links up play far more than I ever remember him doing at OT. I also think that KDB being injured impacted his scoring as Napoli are very light on creativity, if KDB doesn't miss over half of the season then I would think he would have scored another 4 or 5 which would be comfortably his best single season return. His problem still remains that for such a good finisher he is so poor at finding positions inside the box, if his positioning was better he would be a beast because his conversion rate is still top tier. In the end, I am, happy we got the cash and happy he has found a club that suits him and as he genuinely seems a good lad who clearly loves united I hope his future is full of goals and a Scudetto or two.
 
Gandalf said:
Having watched a lot of his games at Napoli I would say that he has improved overall but his ceiling was always going to be lower than we should be aiming for in a number 9. His involvement in build up play for Napoli is where he definitely is better than he was with us, maybe just better understanding with the players but he gets on the ball and links up play far more than I ever remember him doing at OT. I also think that KDB being injured impacted his scoring as Napoli are very light on creativity, if KDB doesn't miss over half of the season then I would think he would have scored another 4 or 5 which would be comfortably his best single season return. His problem still remains that for such a good finisher he is so poor at finding positions inside the box, if his positioning was better he would be a beast because his conversion rate is still top tier. In the end, I am, happy we got the cash and happy he has found a club that suits him and as he genuinely seems a good lad who clearly loves united I hope his future is full of goals and a Scudetto or two.
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when mctom was scoring all the late goals for us, i was hoping it was rasmus who was finding himself to be in that position. But almost always he was in a difficult position to influence the scoring
 
Gandalf said:
Having watched a lot of his games at Napoli I would say that he has improved overall but his ceiling was always going to be lower than we should be aiming for in a number 9. His involvement in build up play for Napoli is where he definitely is better than he was with us, maybe just better understanding with the players but he gets on the ball and links up play far more than I ever remember him doing at OT. I also think that KDB being injured impacted his scoring as Napoli are very light on creativity, if KDB doesn't miss over half of the season then I would think he would have scored another 4 or 5 which would be comfortably his best single season return. His problem still remains that for such a good finisher he is so poor at finding positions inside the box, if his positioning was better he would be a beast because his conversion rate is still top tier. In the end, I am, happy we got the cash and happy he has found a club that suits him and as he genuinely seems a good lad who clearly loves united I hope his future is full of goals and a Scudetto or two.
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I agree. I hold no ill will towards him, seems a nice chap. Glad he is happy in Italy.
 
Gandalf said:
Having watched a lot of his games at Napoli I would say that he has improved overall but his ceiling was always going to be lower than we should be aiming for in a number 9. His involvement in build up play for Napoli is where he definitely is better than he was with us, maybe just better understanding with the players but he gets on the ball and links up play far more than I ever remember him doing at OT. I also think that KDB being injured impacted his scoring as Napoli are very light on creativity, if KDB doesn't miss over half of the season then I would think he would have scored another 4 or 5 which would be comfortably his best single season return. His problem still remains that for such a good finisher he is so poor at finding positions inside the box, if his positioning was better he would be a beast because his conversion rate is still top tier. In the end, I am, happy we got the cash and happy he has found a club that suits him and as he genuinely seems a good lad who clearly loves united I hope his future is full of goals and a Scudetto or two.
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I don't think KDB has done an awful lot when fit. That game against Sporting is doing a lot of heavy lifting in his time at Napoli. I prefer when he's out and McTominay is higher up the pitch.
 
moodyred said:
10 years later, this comment will probably still apply.
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And people will still say there's a player in there and its everyone else's fault he doesn't get chances. Seems a nice guy and I wish him the best but never at the required standard
 
It might have taken a year, but looks like we are getting rid of another deadwood type player. I am quite encouraged by how we seem more decisive in dealing with players that obviously will not make it here. Getting £38m is also not nothing. Really good bit of business.

No ill will towards Højlund. By now he probably also realizes he will be happier in Serie A.
 
Florida Man said:
Love me some salami spread from Calabria
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'Nduja :drool: :drool: :drool:
Gandalf said:
His involvement in build up play for Napoli is where he definitely is better than he was with us, maybe just better understanding with the players but he gets on the ball and links up play far more than I ever remember him doing at OT.
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That's mostly down to Conte. His teams are coached to memorize patterns of play so they just have to execute them on the pitch. Streamlines and simplifies his movement and decision making in build up

Serie A's lower physicality also helps
 
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