Hojlund no longer a poor man’s Haaland
LUTON, England — It was not long ago that Manchester United’s signing of Rasmus Hojlund was a rich source of humor for fans of Manchester City as the young Dane labored to make an impression in the Premier League.
Not helped by United’s worst start to a season since the early 1960s, Hojlund, who cost 72 million pounds ($ 91 million), looked lost at times as his wait for a first Premier League goal dragged on.
The contrast with City’s Norwegian Erling Haaland, who stormed the Premier League in record- breaking fashion in his first season, was almost laughable.
But suddenly the boot is on the other foot.
While Haaland is hardly having a bad season with a league- topping 16 goals, Hojlund no longer looks like a poor imitation.
A day after Haaland missed an absolute sitter in City’s 1- 1 draw with Chelsea, Hojlund’s brace helped United earn a 2- 1 win at Luton Town that pushed his side closer to the top four.
United spent much of the game hanging on after that, but managed to see out a fourth straight league victory that puts it just three points behind fifth- place Tottenham.
“We made it hard for ourselves today,” Hojlund said. “I was rubbing my hands a lot of times because I was quite nervous. I’m grateful for the win though, but a little bit lucky.”
Haaland has almost monopolized the record books since arriving in England in July 2022, but the 21- year- old Hojlund has now scored in six successive Premier League games, the youngest player ever to do so. Incredibly it took him until after Christmas to register his first Premier League goal.
Now he has seven to his name and there look to be plenty more where they came from, with Sunday’s double at Kenilworth Road illustrating the confidence that has returned.
After 37 seconds, Hojlund seized on a loose back pass to put his side in front. Six minutes later, he showed great dexterity and speed of thought to chest a volley from Alejandro Garnacho past Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski.
“I think I need to say thanks to my teammates and the coach because they have showed me great confidence and kept believing in me,” said Hojlund, who arrived from Italian side Atalanta in August.
“I knew as well that I could score goals but of course it was annoying I didn’t score in the Premier League.”
Hojlund’s sudden goal surge has been timely for manager Erik ten Hag who was coming under increasing pressure with his team misfiring and Hojlund unable to locate the net.
Not that Dutchman Ten Hag had any real doubts that his striker would eventually come good.
“We recruited him on his character, I knew it was strong. He can really perform under stress and that is something you need as a Man United striker,” he said.
“You see he’s a fighter. He keeps going. And he has great abilities in front of the goal.
“He doesn’t get nervous or lose confidence. He has a lot of confidence and I’m sure he will score even more.”
Nobody is expecting Hojlund to start racking up the sort of statistics Haaland has done for City but he now looks like the kind of striker to help a rejuvenated United embark on a new era.
While this has been a disappointing season for Ten Hag’s side, a topfour finish suddenly looks like a realistic prospect with Aston Villa five points in front in the final Champions League spot.
“I think we are back in the race and we are building momentum,” Ten Hag said. “We need to build pressure. Every game is a final to get closer to them.”
United also had a number of opportunities to finish the game off on counterattacks in the second half, while Luton’s Ross Barkley had the final chance for an equalizer when his injury- time header hit the crossbar.
“We had some really massive chances ( in the second half ) and we should have scored,” Ten Hag said. “How we started the game was exactly how we wanted to do it. The only thing we didn’t do so well was to be clinical and score more goals.”