Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United
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Rashford was our only attacker to get double figured goals in the league last season for us and we also got out scored by Brighton. We need better than this guys record to cover up for the lack of goals in our front line
We should look to bring in Brobbey as well as Hojlund. They are very different players, which will help depending on the type of match we are playing. With the sales of Telles, Maguire, Fred, Henderson, Bailly, Williams etc we could be looking at £80m (optimistic I know). Hojlund will end up costing £50m plus add-ons, Brobbey would probably cost around £40m? I’ve no idea really I’m just making this stuff up as I go tbh
I'm pretty sure that if we get Højlund in our other attackers will also score more. Antony should benefit a lot from having a striker with Højlund's traits next to him.
Yeah this is refreshing to hear
Everyone has to improve their goalscoring, and that's something that hopefully all the signings would help with.
Brighton only scored 14 more than us in the league, so he could very well help bridge that gap. Not for certain, but it's not impossible either.
City scored 36 more, and there probably isn't any one player that can help bridge that, not even Kane. Not while Haaland is fit and firing for them, anyway.
Arsenal scored 30 more than us, and I don't think they have a striker capable of scoring 30+ league goals, but they reached that amount by sharing the goalscoring through the team. I think they had something like 4 players get into double digits.
That's what we need to try and recreate. Having a proper CF should help with that, just by being more useful than Weghorst and Martial alone.
Antony didn’t even get double figures in a weaker league where he had a proper striker. And Sancho…..the man is afraid to shoot
Yeah if we can spread the goals across the team that will help take the pressure off our new number 9 whoever it is
I'm not taking top 4 (or rather Top 5 as 5th will likely get a CL place this season) for granted at all.
But the reality is that you don't need a particularly prolific goalscorer to finish in those places, though it would obviously help.
Hojlund returned 0.44 non-penalty goals every 90min last season. Looking at Arsenal for comparison (who were in an actual title race last season), their two most prolific goalcorers by the same measure were Martinelli (0.48) and Jesus (0.44). The former being outmatched by Rashford (0.53) and the latter returning on par with Hojlund.
The point being that we don't need our CF individually returning at particular high rate. What we need is more goals from the team as a whole, who had the third biggest underperformance on their underlying stats in the league last season.
And when you look at the individual players in our team who underperformed in that regard it wasn't just the strikers, it was a collective issue:
As compared to Arsenal's more reasonable spread of under/over performers.
Collective improvement is needed. If Hojlund just returns at the rate he did in Serie A he'll have done his part as a new signing, but the rest of the team has to score more too.
Bigger issue here; Arsenal have improved there defensive part of their team, I’m not sure they will score 88 PL goals again which was exceptional but they might not concede as many either, they will be competitive, no doubt about that but teams will give players like Martinelli, Saka , Odegaard much more attention.
United have huge problems with goal scoring, last two seasons, we’ve scored 58 PL goals which is 25-30 short from challenging. I think we will tighten up especially if we buy Amrabat as well and can see the club conceding maybe 8-10 goals less than last season so 33-35.
I just can see how M Rashford, J Sancho, Antony, Bruno, Mount, Garnaucho and R Hojlund will score 85-90 PL goals, Martial will play maybe 10 games and if united bring back back Greenwood, the harmony in the dressing room will implode.
Now if we signed Kane for £40m in January, added to the above and loan or sell Greenwood then we might be a completely different proposition but we are cult figure number 9, a 25 year CDM/CM and another WC CB from being a team ready to challenge for the title?
From Atalanta’s perspective if they believe in his potential they might think a good season Serie A next year of 20+ goals and he could be worth €90-100m.
But that’s a risk of course, if he flops and only gets 10 goals playing a full season (yes I know he only got 9 this season just gone, but he was sun for 1/2 the season), then suddenly no top club will be going anywhere near him for €40m.
A middle ground of €60-65 makes sense in terms of balancing risk / potential.
I also want us to pursue their young CB Scalvini (most likely next summer now) as I think he’s the perfect Varane replacement. So hopefully we conclude Hojland amicably and we’ll be on good terms for Scalvini in the future.
But that’s a risk of course, if he flops and only gets 10 goals playing a full season (yes I know he only got 9 this season just gone, but he was sun for 1/2 the season), then suddenly no top club will be going anywhere near him for €40m.
A middle ground of €60-65 makes sense in terms of balancing risk / potential.
I also want us to pursue their young CB Scalvini (most likely next summer now) as I think he’s the perfect Varane replacement. So hopefully we conclude Hojland amicably and we’ll be on good terms for Scalvini in the future.
Yes Arsenal had 4 players in double digits and 3 out of those were their front line. Antony and Sancho have shown nothing to suggest they can score double digits. We need better than Hojlund or at least getting Hojlund + another striker for cheap who can add some goals
Antony got 12 goals and 10 assists in all competitions his last year at Ajax. If we can get similar, or even better, out of him next season in addition to increased productivity from other players not named Rashford, we're a whole lot better off than last season. And that is without taking into account whatever numbers a new striker gets, be it Højlund or Muani or whoever.
Our striker position was a black hole most of last season. We rectify that and the numbers should go up for the team as a whole.
Antony and Sancho have done it before, we just have to hope they can do it again. Bruno also needs to chip in with a few more again. Hopefully Mount can do as well. Martial isn't going anywhere, so we need him to stay fit enough to get enough game time to reach double digits, in all comps at least, but that probably isn't going to happen...
It's a lot of hoping that general performance levels can increase, but I think it's better to hope for that than to think we'll sign someone better than Højlund. I also think it's a stretch to think we'll sign more than 1 striker this summer.
I think the question here is whether or not he's a Vinicius level talent.
Madrid have a long and successful history of doing this with signings like Higuian, Marcelo, Gago, Militao, Odegaard and Vinicius.
The thing is though it is a gamble. See De Ketalaere or Datro Fofana. Not saying they won't come good but it's very difficult to go to big clubs having little top flight experience.
Absolutely, there were games when we had 20 plus chances not converted. If we have even a half decent 9 in there and he will bag goals. I am not worried about challenging anything. I just want to see progress from last year which I know ETH will deliver and that we are moving towards a fluid machine. Hopefully during this we can have new owners who, with ETH direction of thought, can install a system where the right players who are not named KANE/ MBAPPE etc can be found to fit our system. We spent a decade hunting the next big buy at high prices hoping upon hoping that that would shift the pendulum in our direction, when all along we needed someone like ETH to build a style and a team that worked.
I hope that we get him, he could become a top class striker for us who is multi-dimensional in the way he plays (hold-up, pace, aerial ability, pocher instincts, etc...), he is a huge gamble but we have to take a risk here since the market is scarce of quality attackers.
This is unlikely imo. ETH and the senior players reportedly would welcome him back. So unless Greenwood thinks he must start there won't be any issue imo.
Someway i do agree. But im pretty sure Hojlund would offer more than Martial and Weghorst did last season. And he´s still only 20yo and developing. Risky bet but also possible hit signed before his peak years.
Yeah, there's a Mason post on Instagram with the United badge behind him and at least two players liked the post, including Bruno Fernandes.
More than dressing room harmony I just think backlash would be too much for the club to decide to bring him back.
He looks a great prospect, but I think we need to supplement him with an older, more-reliable goalscorer (if the post-sales budget allows for it). Obviously, Kane and Osimhen are out of reach, but I think we could do worse than someone like Füllkrug, who was the Bundesliga top scorer last season, is great in the air, likes to get involved in the buildup and shouldn't be too expensive (a poor man's Kane, basically). Højlund & Füllkrug > Martial & Weghorst.
Based on last year's scoring rates per minute, if Sancho simply played as many minutes as Rashford, he would score 10 league goals and achieve double digits. Antony also didn't play that many minutes last year so should be able to get close to ten goals.
Yeah I think we could do with that too,there was talk about possibly signing two forwards but now seems to have died down
Yeah, that would 100% be the main issue - not dressing room harmony.
There's no way the club would bring Greenwood back if there was any kind of divide about it in the dressing room. So he'll only return if the squad had no issues with it And I doubt there would be, really - plenty of players accused / even found guilty of serious things return to team sports and you don't hear any reports of dressing room harmony 'imploding' because of it.
As you say, it'll all actually depend on potential media / social media / sponsorship backlash. Plenty of players accused of similar get to return to the game. Occasionally some have a return made pretty much impossible by the backlash. It so far looks more like Greenwood is going to be in the small latter group, so I'd say a return is unlikely for that reason.
His goals per minute is very good and with better players can only improve, not to mention his style of play will improve those around him.
Agree but that's another subject I think.
They are all gambles whether they end up being successful or not. Also the difficulty to go to big clubs with little top flight experience is overstated, most future top players go to big clubs with little experience of top flight and most players of all level of experience that aren't in a big club will find it difficult that's why most transfers aren't successful whether you are talking about a prospect or a superstar.
The only criteria that matter are whether you rate the footballing skills of the players, whether you rate his mentality and whether you created an environment that leads to good adaptation and development for all players.
I do wonder about the leadership at the club when Greenwood's return is even being considered. The squad is clearly clueless so it would be ridiculous from a PR standpoint to leave it in their hands in anyway as I'm sure he'd be back today if you did. Bruno's support of Mendy turned my stomach and made me realise that even the guys you think have a brain are corrupted by footballer privilege and don't see themselves as anything but victims in these incidents.
You have to take a broader outlook on this and consider the female fans, staff and players that you alienate when you make a decision to allow a violent woman abuser back into the club. I'm not a woman but I'm disgusted by the club's lack of leadership on this issue in recent years from Giggs being made to feel welcome in executive boxes after serious and credible allegations being made about him by his former partner, Ronaldo being brought back despite not being able to visit America due to a rape accusation, the ongoing allegations against Antony and how the United medical team may have even had to treat his ex-girlfriends injuries. Not one of these cases do I have any shred of doubt that the allegations being made were untruthful. I almost expect it from footballers but how is this behaviour in anyway palatable to the club's sponsors and by extension the executive team?
If Atalanta truly are not happy with how his agent handled this situation, they could really dig in about the price they will demand.
Nice to know that we have a psychic on the forum that knows the exact details of each of these individual cases. Can you share the lottery numbers please, Mr all wise and all knowing.
I wouldn't think the Mendy case has any similarities to the MG case. I also don't think it's surprising that Bruno supports Mendy. Unusually, the circumstantial evidence in that case seemed to favour Mendy rather than the accusers and it must be terrifying for someone like Bruno to imagine that he could lose his livelihood, wife, children, and reputation over an unfounded accusation.
It certainly isn't enough to make a judgement about Bruno's character and it isn't even enough to gauge how he would react to MG being potentially re-introduced given that the circumstances are entirely different.
Getting outscored by Brighton who don’t have better attackers than us shows that their system/tactics work better. Hojlund could come in and thrive in this system and hit double figures next season.
Pay up get it done. We need Strikers! 
That's the part where you lose me to be honest. Don't go along with this whole 'one side would never lie, one side must be completely guilty' attitude to all cases. I prefer to leave it to the criminal system to weigh up all the evidence on an individual basis and make a judgement based on that. Rather than adopt a sweeping, biased view one way or the other based on very little evidence and mostly pre-conceived judgements.
There’s a reason Sancho didn’t play as much as Rashford… he wasn’t very good. Antony highest tally is 9 goals in his career. That’s all well and good if your other attackers are hitting solid numbers like Haller and Tadic did
Yes that’s the hope but it’s a big ask given how raw he is
Is Rasmus press resistant?
Haven’t seen it confirmed and anxious to know before I decide if we should buy him or not.
Haven’t seen it confirmed and anxious to know before I decide if we should buy him or not.
The future status of Greenwood is the huge unspoken variable in all those forward line discussions. I know it's not a subject we're supposed to delve in too much. The latest (closed) thread about him as a player had some talk about ten Hag reportedly probing opinions internally.
It makes a huge difference to have one more body available upfront if he is reintegrated with a decent amount of fitness (and I'll just say I don't think it's that far fetched the club would try it... Guess we will see) or if Hojlund have to -hypothetically- carry expectations of being the sole "real striker" headliner (considering we can't really rely on Martial being injury free) at the conclusion of the summer window.
I would tend to agree most discussions about "PL proven" "fit for United level" and all those immaterial and intangible qualities is often overblown... There's really no other way to know than when rubber meet the road.
It's true Hojlund is very young still and I hear the worries that the pressure could get to him which is why I think it's imperative to have at least one player to share duties with in that first year (ideally not Rashford which I'd rather not waste up top if not needed) to ease him in if needed.
I think it's a little silly too to put a precise number of goals he should score in his first year as well. Obviously if he never scores that would be an issue, but if he contributes to a better flowing attack and help raise the level for Antony and Sancho (the latter I really hope can be salvaged somehow this season, if only to sell him favorably if it comes to that) and push the team being a better unit on offense, that'd be good. I realize it's a little more evanescent than a raw stat line of goals, non penalty goals, assists but as the whole Ronaldo sorry episode highlighted, one player individual stats might actually come to the detriment of the whole.
There's a lot of talent up top, some still raw, some uncertain because of circumstances (Sancho, Greenwood) that was untapped last season, if we're to believe the statistics. On paper it's actually pretty loaded actually, not yet too old, allow a lot of rotation and permutations and possibly "elite" if running smoothly.
Up to 60m€ I think it's an acceptable gamble to make. It's not guaranteed but unless he's having a complete mare or bad injury, he'd still have some resale value to lessen the financial consequences. More so than David, I feel, but maybe I'm wrong.
Edit : Fixed a couple typos.
It makes a huge difference to have one more body available upfront if he is reintegrated with a decent amount of fitness (and I'll just say I don't think it's that far fetched the club would try it... Guess we will see) or if Hojlund have to -hypothetically- carry expectations of being the sole "real striker" headliner (considering we can't really rely on Martial being injury free) at the conclusion of the summer window.
I would tend to agree most discussions about "PL proven" "fit for United level" and all those immaterial and intangible qualities is often overblown... There's really no other way to know than when rubber meet the road.
It's true Hojlund is very young still and I hear the worries that the pressure could get to him which is why I think it's imperative to have at least one player to share duties with in that first year (ideally not Rashford which I'd rather not waste up top if not needed) to ease him in if needed.
I think it's a little silly too to put a precise number of goals he should score in his first year as well. Obviously if he never scores that would be an issue, but if he contributes to a better flowing attack and help raise the level for Antony and Sancho (the latter I really hope can be salvaged somehow this season, if only to sell him favorably if it comes to that) and push the team being a better unit on offense, that'd be good. I realize it's a little more evanescent than a raw stat line of goals, non penalty goals, assists but as the whole Ronaldo sorry episode highlighted, one player individual stats might actually come to the detriment of the whole.
There's a lot of talent up top, some still raw, some uncertain because of circumstances (Sancho, Greenwood) that was untapped last season, if we're to believe the statistics. On paper it's actually pretty loaded actually, not yet too old, allow a lot of rotation and permutations and possibly "elite" if running smoothly.
Up to 60m€ I think it's an acceptable gamble to make. It's not guaranteed but unless he's having a complete mare or bad injury, he'd still have some resale value to lessen the financial consequences. More so than David, I feel, but maybe I'm wrong.
Edit : Fixed a couple typos.
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If you read beetween the lines, this is basically done right? Also zero links to any other candidates.
Mount+Onana+Hojlund plus some offloads (Telles, Henderson, hopefully Maguire etc) would in this context of the ownership chaos actually be a decent window
Mount+Onana+Hojlund plus some offloads (Telles, Henderson, hopefully Maguire etc) would in this context of the ownership chaos actually be a decent window
If we don't get this blonde striker, we can always stick DVB up there and spam crosses to his feet 
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