Sir Jim Ratcliffe watched Rasmus Hojlund in the flesh as Man Utd drew with Tottenham in the Premier League last weekend. Rasmus Hojlund hates the comparisons with Erling Haaland but they were hard to ignore at the weekend.
Marcus Rashford hesitated when he dragged the ball forward into the Tottenham box, but Hojlund wasted no time as he got the ball out of his feet and rifled a ferocious effort into the back of the net.
It was a strike you’d expect to see from the Man City marksman. A lethal finish in the blink of an eye. The mark of a stone-cold killer in front of the goal.
Hojlund will still have to do a lot more if he is to ever warrant comparisons with Haaland regularly, but this was a step in the right direction after a frustrating start to the campaign. The 20-year-old might have scored two goals in his last two Premier League matches, though it is also true that he has only scored two goals in his last 16 Premier League matches as well.
On recent evidence, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt to suggest he has finally turned a corner, but it is important to note that in between those two league goals was a really poor performance against Wigan in the FA Cup.
United is still banking on the belief that Hojlund will find the consistency required to be one of the very best in the world, and that has to be expected of him given the enormous amount of money that was invested in him.
The perverse nature of the situation is that Hojlund needs time to settle but can’t afford the luxury of time when he costs them so much in the first place. The nature of his job title as United’s main striker assures that he will ultimately be judged by a level of consistency and productivity that just cannot be reasonably expected from someone of his experience.
Hojlund is also not helped by the fact that with every game he plays and every goal he scores, the leniency drops a little bit more, with a greater immediate demand for the £72 million that was invested in him.
It only takes one poor performance for the subject of signing another striker to be brought to the table and it seems certain United will enter the market for another this summer, given that Anthony Martial is set to leave the club for good.
What they must decide next is what caliber of striker they target at the end of the season. Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have seen firsthand last weekend just what Hojlund can offer the team in attack, though he will also be aware of how isolated the youngster has been at times.
There is still a train of thought that United should look to sign a more experienced option in the mold of another Edinson Cavani or Zlatan Ibrahimović, who could come in and alleviate the pressure on Hojlund immediately but not be expected to start every week.
A contrasting opinion is that they need someone who is in their prime right now. Harry Kane was Erik ten Hag’s dream addition last summer and it is quite clear that Hojlund is nowhere near that level yet, though he could one day reach it.
Once again, it comes down to time. Ratcliffe wants to make an instant impact at Old Trafford and he is not in the business of waiting around in the hope that a player comes good when there might be a better-suited option out there.
Victor Osimhen and Kylian Mbappe are both among those elite options who could be on the move in the summer window, while Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins are both Premier League-proven and look to be in the best years of their careers right now.
Then there is the elephant in the room. What if United banked on the wrong youngster? The club is still monitoring Brighton forward Evan Ferguson, who looks like he could become one of the very best in his position.
Ferguson would certainly give them another brilliant option in attack, but United would be relying upon two raw strikers, and one of them would have to suffer from the lack of regular playing time as well.
That is the decision that Ineos must make before the summer. Hojlund definitely needs support; it’s just a question of how much he needs.
