Højlund isn’t scoring for Man United, but it’s not his fault،
Rasmus Højlund finds himself in an impossible situation at Manchester United. He is the striker the club wants you to believe was selected ahead of Harry Kane as their priority signing this summer and also has the burden of being measured against Erling Haaland across town at Manchester City.
But while Kane and Haaland are already clear of their rivals in the Bundesliga and Premier League scoring charts, respectively – Kane has 10 league goals for Bayern Munich and Haaland has 11 for City – Højlund is still waiting to score his first league goal for United after eight games for Erik ten Hag’s side. The 20-year-old can at least score three goals in three Champions League matches for United so far this season, so Wednesday’s trip to Denmark to face his former club FC Copenhagen (and his brothers, Emil and Oscar ) offers him the opportunity. to add to his tally in a match United must win to maintain realistic hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
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Overall, the £72million signing from Atalanta is enduring a nightmare start to his United career as, unlike Kane and Haaland, he has been tasked with scoring goals for a team that still fails not to provide him with the opportunities to do so. Had United taken a different route this summer and signed Kane from Tottenham Hotspur – although persuading him to move to Old Trafford might have been an insurmountable challenge – it’s hard to imagine the England captain being as prolific as he is has been until now. Bayern would have been forced to work with the minimal service offered to Højlund.
The Denmark international’s 79th-minute substitution in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Fulham means it has now been 160 minutes since a chance was created for him in the Premier League. Against Fulham and City last weekend, Højlund didn’t have a single chance to score.
Top scorers can create chances out of nothing – just look at Liverpool’s Kane, Haaland and Mohamed Salah. Højlund did just that, scoring in last month’s 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray with a run from the halfway line, followed by a stylish finish, which brought in former United midfielder Paul Scholes compared him to an Old Trafford great. “Wow, there’s a bit of [Ruud] van Nistelrooy in there,” Scholes told TNT Sports. “He [Højlund] really excited me. “
But while the best strikers must possess this ability to create a moment of magic, they also need help from those around them, and Ten Hag has yet to find a way to get the ball to his center forward in the key areas.
So far this season, the United manager has mainly relied on Marcus Rashford and Antony as wingers, but neither of them has shown any sign of the ability to read Højlund’s runs or even the determination to do it. Rashford, who has just one goal and one assist in the league all season, provoked outbursts of frustration on the pitch from Højlund by often choosing to shoot rather than pass to him.
In 10 league matches, Rashford has created just four big chances and delivered 13 crosses, hardly the kind of service required from a centre-forward. And Antony did even worse, with no assists, two big chances created and only nine crosses in eight games. The former Ajax winger, a left-footed player playing on the right flank, could ultimately prove to be a better option for Højlund if he is deployed on the left wing and asked to deliver crosses that skillful attackers in tunes traditionally thrive.
Central midfielder Bruno Fernandes could, however, be Ten Hag’s best hope of unlocking Højlund’s goalscoring potential. Already this season, the United captain has delivered 74 crosses and created six big chances – he just needs to find Højlund with the ball as regularly as Kevin De Bruyne did with Haaland at City last season.
But while Højlund can rightly claim that he lacked quality service, it is clear that he also wasted good opportunities when they presented themselves. He missed six big chances, according to Premier League data, despite taking just 11 shots all season. Only four of those 11 ended up hitting the target.
So, after 572 minutes of action in the Premier League, Højlund’s statistics are worrying and risk undermining his confidence. He still has some way to go to match Diego Forlan’s 23-goal drought in the Premier League – after his £6.9m move to United from Independiente in 2002 – but after commanding a transfer fee £20m higher than City’s £52m deal. with Borussia Dortmund to sign Haaland, he needs to start scoring in the Premier League.
Champions League goals are important, although Højlund’s three goals so far have all come in defeats, but it is his contribution in the Premier League that will be measured. A goal in a win in Copenhagen could be the kick-start Højlund needs for his United career, but he needs help from his teammates who are letting him down.
