Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United

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El-Manos said:
He won’t be enough. I can’t complain about transfer dealings but we can’t expect Ten Hag to “mount” pardon the pun - a challenge with these reinforcements
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If the Glazers are running the club (as they currently are and show no sign of leaving), there won’t be any intention or ambition to challenge in either the PL or CL.

A top 5 finish will be the target from the people who are controlling the spending.

Nothing more than that is being aimed for.
 
Ranie said:
I think this guy will flourish if given similar playing time as Weghorst. He’s strong, quick and a good finisher and in fact got the whole frame to be a top player. Yes, he’s young, yes somewhat unproven and the fee is massive. But I think Ten Haag knows what he’s doing on this one.
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I think he will do well too, but I also agree that pressure of a massive fee wouldn’t be good for him at all (good thing he should cost around 50m)
 
I'm a big fan of him and as a fellow Dane, I expect him to be the main striker for our national team for the next decade.

That being said, he's very raw and I worry about his hold-up play. Spending more than £40m on him would be reckless IMO.

If Atalanta really values him around £100m, we should just laugh them in their face and leave negotiations without further ado.
 
KjaAnd said:
I'm a big fan of him and as a fellow Dane, I expect him to be the main striker for our national team for the next decade.

That being said, he's very raw and I worry about his hold-up play. Spending more than £40m on him would be reckless IMO.

If Atalanta really values him around £100m, we should just laugh them in their face and leave negotiations without further ado.
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What's wrong with his hold-up play? For a 20 year old, it's really good. If anything, I feel it's his finishing he needs to be better at, of course Benni McCarthy will help him with that as he did with Rashford.
 
zaafi said:
What's wrong with his hold-up play? For a 20 year old, it's really good. If anything, I feel it's his finishing he needs to be better at, of course Benni McCarthy will help him with that as he did with Rashford.
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Let's hope so. Does McCarthy only work with Rashford, because the other attacking players certainly haven't improved their finishing at all?
 
Bertie Wooster said:
Let's hope so. Does McCarthy only work with Rashford, because the other attacking players certainly haven't improved their finishing at all?
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It certainly looks that way :lol: I think he primarily works with strikers or forwards who operate in the box or can be considered huge goal threats. Weghorst wouldn't exactly have much of an effect as he is 30 and was only a loan.

Antony always tries to curl the ball from right to the far corner, and he definitely knows how to do that but he just has to be a little bit better at it. I don't think McCarthy could teach him that better than Antony himself. It would be nice if they had sessions where Antony learned to vary his finishing a bit, like how Greenwood did.

Sancho is a really good finisher, but he rarely finds himself in a shooting position and is more of a provider, but also very hesitant and struggles to actually make a decision. He should definitely shoot more.

Garnacho is a big goal threat and I think he works a lot with him. He has had some really nice finishes, but also a bit inconsistent which is to be expected from a player of his age.

Martial.. well, he's just a lost cause, in my opinion. They definitely work together, but his finishing have regressed, but that also happened before Benni came to us.
 
zaafi said:
It certainly looks that way :lol: I think he primarily works with strikers or forwards who operate in the box or can be considered huge goal threats. Weghorst wouldn't exactly have much of an effect as he is 30 and was only a loan.

Antony always tries to curl the ball from right to the far corner, and he definitely knows how to do that but he just has to be a little bit better at it. I don't think McCarthy could teach him that better than Antony himself. It would be nice if they had sessions where Antony learned to vary his finishing a bit, like how Greenwood did.

Sancho is a really good finisher, but he rarely finds himself in a shooting position and is more of a provider, but also very hesitant and struggles to actually make a decision. He should definitely shoot more.

Garnacho is a big goal threat and I think he works a lot with him. He has had some really nice finishes, but also a bit inconsistent which is to be expected from a player of his age.

Martial.. well, he's just a lost cause, in my opinion. They definitely work together, but his finishing have regressed, but that also happened before Benni came to us.
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Yeah, agree with all that.

Especially about Sancho. Plenty of times so far in his time with us he's got himself a good opportunity to shoot if he takes it quickly enough but, as you say, he's been too hesitant and not got the shot away in time. He really does need to start shooting more, and making the decision to shoot quicker and more decisively.
 
I’ve never seen him play once. But he couldn’t be worse than Weghorst. If he could finish all the gilt edged chances Weghorts missed he’d have decent numbers.
 
DSG said:
Over what time period? In the last season, they spent €611m and sold €67m. So far this summer, they’ve sold €220m, but also spent €97m.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/fc-chelsea/alletransfers/verein/631

Number of players doesn’t matter, it’s total spend. FFP is set up to minimize the effects of big clubs pouring huge amounts of money into the transfer markets. How can Chelsea, who have 20% less revenue than we do (will be more like 30-35% this season as they are out of the CL) have a net spend of €550m, yet not a word about FFP, yet we spend 150m and suddenly we have FFP issues? Do you understand how accounting works? How player sales works? It’s not upfront cash, it’s usually paid in installments, and the transfer fees are amortized over the life of the contract, usually 5 years. Mason Mount will cost us £10m per year plus salary… if we spend 150m this summer, it’s literally £30m per year on the books.

Our transfer record has been abysmal, but that’s not what this is about. The reason management has said there are FFP concerns is because they want to get away from paying the United premium (fair) plus, they want to juice profits to justify a higher acquisition price. Don’t be naive.
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The tweet literally says 'the past decade'. The data from the tweet wasn't mine but from a reliable source but sure let's use your transfermarkt source then. Over 'the last decade' Chelsea have offloaded players to the tune of 1.3billion and we have offloaded 414million worth. Chelsea have so far sold 220m this season. And United? 1m?, last year Chelsea sold 67m of players and United 13m, prior to that it was 148m vs 31m, 57m vs 19m, 157 vs 81 etc etc. I could go on but you get the gist.
We've only cleared 100m once in outgoing players in 11 years. Chelsea regularly do it.

I was chiefly pointing out the inaccuracy of saying Chelsea have 'offloaded very few players' to make your point because it's blatantly untrue. Leaving the stats aside when was the last time you feel United did well in offloading unwanted players? Dan James? And that was such an outlier that the forum still buzzes today about how we wish we could do similarly well on sales. Before Dan James was Lukaku (a high fee close to what we paid for him) and ditto for Angel Maria. We don't sell players we hang onto them till they run their contracts down and leave for zilch, ala Pogba, De Gea etc.

Personally I find that comments like 'Do you understand how accounting works?' are largely trotted out by people doing their best to 'show' they know lots more than they do. Never mind your sarcy "For those of you lapping up what the Glazers tell you..." and "Don't be naive." comments because like all conspiracy theorists arguments they're irrational and based on 'belief' rather than facts. There are enough 'people who understand how accounting works' in the football journalism sphere and even on this forum that will tell you that Man United's FFP concerns are very real, as they are for most teams except City who we know cheat their way through the FFP rules regardless.

Chelsea may well fall foul of FFP, but it won't be due to them 'having offloaded very few players' and trying to argue that our net spends have been similar is nonsense.

Anyway this is all by the by for a Rasmus Hoijland thread. I hope we buy him and have enough money left over from player sales (NOT!) to have a late cheeky bid for Kane to boot :D
 
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The biggest concern is that he has only played one season of senior football with Atalanta, in Seria A - a league not as intense as EPL, and we are going to put the pressure of being our main striker on a 20 year-old with that little of experience? His is not much more experienced than Garnacho, is he?

I am sure he is extremely talented, and exciting striker, but we need to take care of him and not just drop him into the deep end. We should have signed a senior striker who can stay fit, even if on loan, even if somebody possibly older and less exciting. Somebody to let Rasmus Højlund ease in.

Feck Glazers :(
 


Strong rumours of this deal happening, he was also rumoured to be the top choice for Atalanta to replace Hojlund if he left so, i guess we’ll see?
 
KjaAnd said:
I'm a big fan of him and as a fellow Dane, I expect him to be the main striker for our national team for the next decade.

That being said, he's very raw and I worry about his hold-up play. Spending more than £40m on him would be reckless IMO.

If Atalanta really values him around £100m, we should just laugh them in their face and leave negotiations without further ado.
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How does he rate in the following?

1) Be a presence (reading and making of the actual space/runs) in the box for low and head height crosses at the near post and the penalty spot.
2) Aerial long balls from the defenders/Onana with his back against defenders i.e strength, heading, judging the flight of the ball etc.
3) Running off the shoulder of defenders from long balls/passes/through balls.
4) First touch and hold up play when given to him to feet with his back against defenders.
5) Passing in short and tight spaces.
6) All round game intelligence to get himself and others involved.
7) Work rate.
8) Ability to create chances for himself/dribbling and ball carrying.
9) Finishing when given the ball in those 'typical' penalty box chances.

I think if he ranks average or above in most of these, he'll do fine. He'll get chances from our players and he'll create them simply by being there in the right places.
 
I think he’ll be great for us - but certainly better as he plays more games rather than a player who will hit the ground running with a bunch of goals. I quite like this signing tbh. Hope we negotiate a good fee.
 
tenpoless said:
The only club that launch an investigation for attacking issue when they don't have a striker.
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Can't hold the club accountable for what others write, clearly we are not just 'launching an investigation' we appear to have scouted our targets in good time.
 
El-Manos said:
He won’t be enough. I can’t complain about transfer dealings but we can’t expect Ten Hag to “mount” pardon the pun - a challenge with these reinforcements
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Everyone use to moan that we signed players for the sake of it and because of their name. ETH is different he’s signing players that fit his system and philosophy so we should be happy with that. That will instantly improve us. Getting system players is a lot better than just signing big name players who don’t fit the system.
 
El-Manos said:
He won’t be enough. I can’t complain about transfer dealings but we can’t expect Ten Hag to “mount” pardon the pun - a challenge with these reinforcements
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We were never challenging this coming season. It takes multiple seasons of excellent work to go from a non challenger to a challenger, baring the odd anomaly. We have to take steps / leaps towards it.
 
Never seen this lad play but the thought of us bringing in a top young talent upfront is exciting!

It feels like this and the Onana deal will get done and along with Mount will total most of our 'reported budget'. We have to offload though and hopefully Henderson, Fred, McT, Elanga, Telles and Bailly can generate us £70-80million to bring in another midfielder and a sub keeper. Plus with De Gea and Jones also leaving, our wage budget must be massively reduced.
 
Reckon we’ll move for a more experienced striker tail end of the window. Rasmus is nowhere near ready to play week in week out in the PL.
 
redIndianDevil said:
I’ve never seen him play once. But he couldn’t be worse than Weghorst. If he could finish all the gilt edged chances Weghorts missed he’d have decent numbers.
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Weghorst played like a CB asked to go upfront for a bit. You’d think anyone could pot more of the chances he had. A 20 year old striker with 9 goals in Italy just doesn’t sound like enough.
 
Alemar said:
But why? We create so many chances. He can finish, and even with average finishing he will be in a position to score plenty - which will help his self belief and lessen the pressure.
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This is why I am convinced he will excel. With the amount of chances Bruno creates and the fact that he will play basically every game, he is going to score a lot of goals. I was initially apprehensive about the high fee quoted but beggars cannot be choosers. Just get it done.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
We were never challenging this coming season. It takes multiple seasons of excellent work to go from a non challenger to a challenger, baring the odd anomaly. We have to take steps / leaps towards it.
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Yes I agree with this assessment, even though we were really good for stretches especially after the World Cup we are still vulnerable to injuries and suspensions to key players. For example in midfield we are still one injury and a suspension away from seeing McFred on the pitch. Until we address those depth issues and players like Sancho and Antony pulling their weight in goals and assists then the striker issue solved we will not challenge a team like City.

So we shouldn't pressure ourselves with a win now mentality. Just focus on building, getting a good squad depth, team balance, scouting and taking punts on a wonder kid or two. Eventually, under ETH our team will reach that stage, might take us one more summer if the additions made this current window do work.
 
Suv666 said:
Reckon we’ll move for a more experienced striker tail end of the window. Rasmus is nowhere near ready to play week in week out in the PL.
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This. Who we get will depend on the sale of players and if we get a new owner in before the window closes.
We are getting what we 'need' or basics now. The 'wants' comes after a few things clear up.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
A 20 year old striker with 9 goals in Italy just doesn’t sound like enough.
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I don't think he is as talented or gifted as greenwood but he offers us something different. Fast as feck, physical presence and hard working enough to pressure the oppositions back four -- creating opportunities for others
 
Don’t get why people are worried about this signing. I think he’ll thrive. He has the physical attributes to be a success in the PL. he’s rapid, he’s tall, got a decent left foot on him so I think he’ll score an handful of different goals. He’ll be good on the counter, he’ll be good when we’re dominating and need a poacher. Having him upfront will just improve our style of play. We now have Bruno and Mount who’ll create tons of chances, we also have Antony who last season put in lots of decent crosses but no one was there to finish them. This guy will be in and around the box when crosses come in.
 
Redplane said:
Yeah even with our relative transfer incompetence you can't tell me we are just gonna start looking into attacking options not until after we conclude a transfer for another position. :lol:
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One deal at a time, my friend. One deal at a time. Otherwise, the fax machine will literally explode.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
We were never challenging this coming season. It takes multiple seasons of excellent work to go from a non challenger to a challenger, baring the odd anomaly. We have to take steps / leaps towards it.
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Anything can happen mate. No one expected Arsenal to challenge last season. With hard work and the right mentality it’s possible to take bigger steps than expected. If city have a bit of a slip then we need to be ready to pounce and take advantage.
 
I can’t wait till he bangs in 2 on his debut and we get the Haaland vs Hojlund thread
 
DJ_21 said:
Anything can happen mate. No one expected Arsenal to challenge last season. With hard work and the right mentality it’s possible to take bigger steps than expected. If city have a bit of a slip then we need to be ready to pounce and take advantage.
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I think we will have a battle on our hands to just get top4 to be honest.
 
DJ_21 said:
Don’t get why people are worried about this signing. I think he’ll thrive. He has the physical attributes to be a success in the PL. he’s rapid, he’s tall, got a decent left foot on him so I think he’ll score an handful of different goals. He’ll be good on the counter, he’ll be good when we’re dominating and need a poacher. Having him upfront will just improve our style of play. We now have Bruno and Mount who’ll create tons of chances, we also have Antony who last season put in lots of decent crosses but no one was there to finish them. This guy will be in and around the box when crosses come in.
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There are absolutely legitimate concerns as to whether he has or ever will reach the required level, or whether he simply hit a purple patch and has been riding high on confidence since. Let's not forget that just 18 months ago, his Danish club, who had been following his development since childhood, did not consider him a talent worth betting on. His stats are decent to good, and his allround game is very, very raw. He would probably be our third-best striker from the off (behind Martial and Rashford), and I think many of us were hoping for instant improvement this summer. If I was convinced he'd go on to become a top striker, it would be different but having watched his handful of games for Denmark, I'm not confident.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
Weghorst played like a CB asked to go upfront for a bit. You’d think anyone could pot more of the chances he had. A 20 year old striker with 9 goals in Italy just doesn’t sound like enough.
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Despite playing like that he managed to get himself at the end of a number of chances(which he missed).
 
criticalanalysis said:
4) First touch and hold up play when given to him to feet with his back against defenders.
5) Passing in short and tight spaces.
6) All round game intelligence to get himself and others involved.
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Think this is essential for our striker. Considering we opted for Mount/Bruno midfield combo, the person upfront just has to be someone who can knit the things together and bring others into play. He will also be surrounded with Rashford and Antony on each side with both of them (especially Rashford) being more of a goal threat. With so much goalscoring ability around him, our striker should have this qualities on a relatively high level and if he has that, we can get away with him not having some exceptional output.

Didn't watch Hojlund much, but I assume we think he can develop further in this sense and (if we can get him) will probably share some of his minutes with Martial in the 1st season.
 
Jev said:
There are absolutely legitimate concerns as to whether he has or ever will reach the required level, or whether he simply hit a purple patch and has been riding high on confidence since. Let's not forget that just 18 months ago, his Danish club, who had been following his development since childhood, did not consider him a talent worth betting on. His stats are decent to good, and his allround game is very, very raw. He would probably be our third-best striker from the off (behind Martial and Rashford), and I think many of us were hoping for instant improvement this summer. If I was convinced he'd go on to become a top striker, it would be different but having watched his handful of games for Denmark, I'm not confident.
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I personally find it bizarre so many seem to be saying 40-50 would be a bargain. At the moment he is all potential and hasn't demonstrated he can be a top striker in Italy let alone the pl. He has great attributes but his goal scoring stats pale in comparison to haalands and nunez was much more proven yet has struggled
 
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