In PL, those duels outside the box are very very important. We have a big problem in winning those 1st balls due to lack of physical presence up front, but seeing Hojlund he doesn't even try to jump and compete for those duels. I am excited for the rest of his game but his lack of aerial presence is a massive negative for someone costing that amount of money, and being as big as him.
Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United
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In PL, those duels outside the box are very very important. We have a big problem in winning those 1st balls due to lack of physical presence up front, but seeing Hojlund he doesn't even try to jump and compete for those duels. I am excited for the rest of his game but his lack of aerial presence is a massive negative for someone costing that amount of money, and being as big as him.
Agreed Amol, you're absolutely spot on and have described him perfectly imo.
But of course he's still very young and it's about the coaching staff improving his game, so he can become more consistent in his play. But the fundamentals are already there to work with.
People have clearly misaligned their expectations for the kid this season. I expect him to be a far better player by the end of the season than he currently is. He's quite raw(I watched a lot of his clips).
Haaland is a bit similar when it comes to aerial duels, but it doesn't stop City from dominating. It's not that important, but it helps.
I'm excited with this signing. We weren't getting Kane and I'd far rather this promising lad than anyone else. Let's just give him time he might be here for years hopefully.
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Physical strikers rarely peak early. See pretty much every physical striker in world football bar Haaland. So he’ll maybe need a bit more time.
He’s got a unique mix of pace and power that takes time to build and not many 17/18 year olds have a man’s physique even with training and coaching. At 20 he’s finally finding his final height and approximate build which for a powerful striker is an important development point.
At that younger age your pacey agile wide forwards or CFs come into the limelight. Speed and agility/balance are usually in place by then so long as they’ve stopped growing as well as most of the technical skills for those kinds of players to break through.
Basically I think if you’re using Pele as a benchmark for when a player should be ready I think it’s a stupid argument when the average PL debut age is closer to 22 if I remember correctly.
Who was talking about peak? Good strikers at their peak in a good functioning team may score much more than 15-20 goals in all competitions. He is just developing, so of course 15-20 this season is what we may expect
Yeah, I predict 18 in all comps. I won’t be annoyed if he doesn’t hit that but it’s what I think he will get.
The hype around a young Bendtner was quite high I remember
He did describe himself as the best in the world, as I remember it.
I just read this, I haven’t fact checked it:
Rivals fans saying we overpaid for Højlund
Liverpool FC: Signed Darwin Nunez for £85M, scored 9 league goals in English Premier League last season, same as Højlund did in Serie A in less starts.
Chelsea Football Club: Signed a Ukrainian kpop with 12 career goals star for £100M, it is almost August and he has zero goals this year.
Arsenal: Spent £50M on Gabriel Jesus who scored just 11 league goals last season, 2 more than Højlund.
Only City and Tottenham can boast of having the better centre forward, which will change in the near future cus I believe in Højlund's potential.
Erik has gotten his man and watch him do wonders with him.
Rivals fans saying we overpaid for Højlund
Liverpool FC: Signed Darwin Nunez for £85M, scored 9 league goals in English Premier League last season, same as Højlund did in Serie A in less starts.
Chelsea Football Club: Signed a Ukrainian kpop with 12 career goals star for £100M, it is almost August and he has zero goals this year.
Arsenal: Spent £50M on Gabriel Jesus who scored just 11 league goals last season, 2 more than Højlund.
Only City and Tottenham can boast of having the better centre forward, which will change in the near future cus I believe in Højlund's potential.
Erik has gotten his man and watch him do wonders with him.
Has anyone actually got a clip of him doing this?!
According to Atalanta's twitter it was supposedly in their game away at Torino in April.
He is also left footed. A mirror opposite of Rashford. Should make for some great angles during combination plays.
Faster top speed than everyone in our squad.
Good. He does look quick.
Annoying that this wasn’t done sooner so he’d at least get a run out with his new team mates.
Don’t think many people are as quick as Walker to be honest. Hojlund will be faster than most defenders in the prem though.
With regard to the cutbacks, I have the feeling, having seen him quite a lot for Atalanta and Denmark, that Højlund likes to move to one side and make a cutback for a teammate, and his eye for teammates is excellent for a young goal scorer.
Otoh., he likes to run into the box, moving very close to goal to do tap ins - and by tap ins I don't mean technically easy goals, but those where your timing has to be top notch and you have to slice the ball just right (in Denmark, many have made fun of FC Copenhagen for off-loading him cheaply - I think they didn't have the patience to let him develop that final skill in actually putting the ball into the net under heavy pressure from defenders).
So, unless ten Hag asks him to do stay more central and a bit farther from goal, receiving short crosses/passes close to the ground and close to goal is where you'll often see Højlund score, whle he likes to assist teammates with cutbacks.
Both him and Dolberg were rated higher in their youths, and made the NT at 18. Ten Hag should know all about the latter actually.
Dolberg's a really weird one. I watched him doing really well for Nice for a while and then his form just seemed to plummet out of nowhere. I see he's now been sold to Anderlecht.
Darwin’s fee was £64m after scoring 26 in 28 games.
Chelsea have signed Jackson and Nkunku both for significantly less in the same window that Utd has purchased Hojlund.
A PL proven ready to go Jesus for 50m is incredibly good business and one really shouldn’t presume that Højlund for £65m + will end up being a better signing.
Regarding ‘only City and Spurs being able to say they have a better CF’ -
Newcastle - Wilson (and Isak)
Chelsea - Nkunku and Jackson (and Broja)
Arse - Jesus and Nketiah
Liverpool - Gakpo? Nunez possibly
Brighton - Ferguson / Juao Pedro
Brentford - Toney
It’s entirely possible that actually all these are currently better CFs than Højlund.
Seems very early to make claims like that.
Especially when I almost guarantee that in the next breath after declaring him better than Jesus, Wilson, Nunez, Gakpo etc - you’ll be declaring him a ‘20 year old kid’ who we shouldn’t expect more than a handful of goals from.
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First time I've actually seen him speak.
United ‘fans’.
I bet you're fun at parties.
You’re right. Højlund is a better CF than Callum Wilson and Jesus - yet we shouldn’t expect the same output, and Darwin cost £85m.
Pep sold Jesus to his buddy Lego.
No chance United would get Jesus for £50m. City would refuse to do business. What’s the point even talking about that?
Like a young(er) Victor Meldrew.
I’m responding to someone claiming that Højlund is currently a better CF than Jesus and Nketiah.
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You mentioned about 17/18 year olds breaking through. I’m trying to highlight that for Højlund it’s unfair to say he’s 2/3 years ahead of those kinds of attackers as they aren’t the same profile.
I see 15-20 goals as being excellent at his age personally especially in a new league. I’d be delighted with around 10 in the league to start with.
Agree.
The ‘20 year old kid’ meme needs to stop, but conversely, it must be remembered that he isn’t the finished article.
That doesn’t give him a free pass for shocking performances, bad touch etc, but his craft is still being learnt.
Darwin needs to play just 60 games for Liverpool to cost £77m which will happen this season and there are still another 8.5m add-ons remaining.
Nkunku isn't a striker and he had a release clause, the same as Jackson. You could argue we could've moved for the latter but that's not the striker the manager wanted. Jesus wanted to go and had one year remaining on his contract, 50m was about right for him.
You can look at stats and compare transfer fees for different players.
But again it completely ignores the wishes of the selling club.
United wanted him and Atalanta knew United have very few options to play up front.
If Kane/Nunez/Bob the Builder…have more goals per minute than Hojlund, it’s still not going to change Atalanta’s opinion or asking price.
But again it completely ignores the wishes of the selling club.
United wanted him and Atalanta knew United have very few options to play up front.
If Kane/Nunez/Bob the Builder…have more goals per minute than Hojlund, it’s still not going to change Atalanta’s opinion or asking price.
I haven't read all of this thread but does anyone think that the Holjund announcement is being delayed so that it overshadows the Greenwood incoming announcement?
A 20 year old RB recovering from a serious injury who has only played 30 senior games is going for 40m…fee looks reasonable now.
I think all this talk about how his stats will be and whether he is good enough out of the gates or not glosses over what to me is still a major issue: does he/will he actually have healthy competition for the position? Even if Martial ends up staying that isn't enough to me. We don't have anyone else who is a proper out and out striker and can give him a serious run for his money.
Hate it or love it but either Greenwood is brought back into the fold and finds his old shooting boots again, or we need to bring in someone else like in the mold of a Giroud.
Hate it or love it but either Greenwood is brought back into the fold and finds his old shooting boots again, or we need to bring in someone else like in the mold of a Giroud.
Spot on. People have misaligned expectations for the kid and when they don't get met they'll be disappointed.
Some people genuinely believe he is already that good hence why you see posts confidently claiming that he's better than a list of already proven PL strikers playing for top teams. They think the kid will just walk in and bang them goals at an elite rate.
I've been trying my best to remind folks to tamper their expectations so it doesn't lead to uncalled outrages when he doesn't automatically turn out into what we want him to be. I've watched several of his full clips(clips with all his touches and not just highlights) and the kid is talented but raw. He's got pace, strength, can run the channels but his game isn't quite there where he'd come in the PL and perform at the level some are expecting him to in his first season.
I've already said this, he'll be a much better player toward the end of the season than he currently is.
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Obviously doesn't make a difference but hope they announce tonight or tomorrow and don't wait till the weekend
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