Before the unfair comparison starts Hojlund hasn't been signed to be 'their Haaland' if anything the Dane hasn't been brought in to do that job. The Danish international is in the very early stages of his career and it is important to not get on the 20 year old players back too early as he will be having to adjust his play style when playing in Ten Hag's system.
The minimal stats from his minimal amount of game time
The youngster hasn't got an insane amount of statistics due to a lack of game time however what he has so far is promising so lets have a look at the early stages of his career.
(TransferMarkt,2023)
3 key stats from Atalanta to make note of...
- He had a 0,18 XG per shot.
- He only had 3 shots outside of the box.
- He had 2.6 shots on average per game.
What we can learn from his time at Atalanta
There are many things we can learn about Hojlund from his time at Atalanta, the Dane showed evidence of him having a great ability when it came to holding the ball up. It was clear that Erik Ten Hag was needing a striker who had the ability to hold the ball up last season when he was trying to make the best use out of Wout Weghorst. Evidently the 20 year old has more ability than the current Burnley player but it was clear that Manchester United were trying to implement a striker with a similar style last seasons.
Rasmus Hojlund was more of a channel runner for the Italian side which can be argued isn't necessarily Ten Hags way of playing, however having someone who has played and succeeded when playing a different role could be a good sign of versatility if the Red Devils to are struggling to break down a defence.
Although this isn't the role I would expect the youngster to play in whilst at Old Trafford, it would make sense for Ten Hag to continue his style and have his striker pinning back the centre back's. This would allow Hojlund to manipulate them with his pace by creating space for team mates such as Rashford and Antony to capitalise from.
Saying this the Danish international hasn't been signed to just be a distraction for opposing defences he is much more than that, he is more than capable of creating an outlet by getting in from behind. On the other hand it is crucial that Hojlund is clinical during his time in the Premier League because as mentioned before only three of his shots for Atalanta last season was outside the box. When playing in Serie A defences are alot more slack and leak chances where as the English top division often like to play when a team behind the ball when playing the better sides such as Manchester United. Therefore he needs to make sure he finishes the chances he gets when in the final third.
Overall though I feel this is a very positive signing and that he will slowly show what he can do this season but will really kick on in this style in years to come.
Harry Lucas
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