I don't think anyone rates Højlund higher rate now, but he definitely has more potential. Gyokeres was an absolutely nobody at the same age, and could barely score in the Championship. Højlund scored 10 PL goals at the age of 20 with very limited supply for himself. Then you start to think how strikers develop over time and with more experience, and you kind of get the idea that he could score.. I don't know.. more goals? Gyokeres is playing in Primeira Liga, a league where Bas Dost and Jonas scored 30+ goals several seasons.
There’s a lot I agree with in your post. People are saying we need goals now, but what I think we need now is better service to the strikers we have, and far better patterns of play. If we are bringing in anyone from Sporting, it should be Amorim. We spent 70 odd million on Hojlund, and as you say, he scored 10 PL goals last season with very poor service at only 20. Strikers can develop enormously between 20 and 23/24, and that time will fly by. The only way Hojlund gets better is by playing him, and giving him the right coaching. He’s got everything in his locker to be as good or better than someone like Gyokeres who, let’s face it, has only really done anything note worthy in one season of his career at 26. That was last season in Portugal. The season before that he was scoring 21 goals in 46 games in the championship, the season before 17 goals in the Champ., and at a year older than Hojlund was scoring 3 goals in 30 games in the Championship.
Gyokeres is the perfect illustration of how the development of footballers is non-linear and happens at different rates for everyone. But spending a huge sum on a 26 year old, with one really good season under his belt, in a third rate league; to replace a big talent like Hojlund, is folly.
The club needs a good two to three more years to get back to competing at the top, top level. Hojlund is the perfect age to develop as the team develops, to enter his prime as the team are starting to knock on the top door again. Signing Gyokeres would be a short sighted move and likely cost a fortune.
I’d be much more interested in investing that money into positions we actually need right now, like left back. To bring in an elite or potentially elite winger. And to forward plan by eventually replacing an ageing Bruno with a young player that can be the center piece of a title winning team. A Wirtz calibre pkayer. We’ll also have Casemiro and Eriksen leaving in the summer and will need at least one, if not two CMs. We have Hojlund and Zirkzee on the books as CFs, and players like Obi-Martin coming through.
