The club are searching for a new man to fire up their limp attack next season – so where does Hojlund sit on their all-time list of strikers?
"We create some chances and then it's always the same problem, the lack of goals." That was Ruben Amorim's assessment of Manchester United's dull 0-0 draw with Manchester City last Sunday and he looked tired of repeating the same line each week. His side are steadily improving and there have been plenty of encouraging signs in recent games, but they still look incapable of scoring.
And it was telling that Amorim was not asked about the performance of his main centre-forward, Rasmus Hojlund. That is because the Dane's display was depressingly familiar, just the latest demonstration of a player utterly lacking in confidence who looks incapable of finding the net. He had zero shots against City, zero touches in the opposing box and lost the ball four times before being hauled off for Joshua Zirkzee.
The Dane at least managed to have two attempts in United's Europa League quarter-final first leg with Lyon but he never looked like scoring, scuffing a wonderful pass from Patrick Dorgu wide and firing a weak shot straight at the hosts' goalkeeper. Hojlund is not just not scoring: with one goal in his last 25 appearances for United, he is barely creating any danger.
The revelation that Harry Maguire posed more of a threat in terms of expected goals in nine minutes on the pitch against Nottingham Forest than Hojlund had in his previous 15 appearances summed up his current predicament. It is little surprise, therefore, that United are on the look out for a new striker and are set to battle Chelsea to sign Liam Delap in the summer.
Despite playing in one of the weakest sides in the league who are heading straight back to the Championship, Delap has managed to score 12 Premier League goals – four times as many as Hojlund – in his first full season in the top flight. The 22-year-old got his footballing education at Manchester City alongside Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers and is being talked about as Harry Kane's successor for England. He would certainly be a smart recruit for United if they can meet Ipswich's reported evaluation of £40 million ($51m), which could drop to £30m ($39m) if the Tractor Boys are relegated.
But the fact that United are bidding for another young and largely unproven centre-forward shows that they have lost faith in the man they chose to sign instead of Harry Kane, and who they paid a whopping £72m ($94m) for, making him their eighth most expensive signing of all time.
But where does Hojlund rank among all the strikers United have had in the Premier League era?
Getty27Alexis Sanchez
Signing Alexis Sanchez in January 2018 ahead of Manchester City and on a swap deal with Arsenal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan looked like a brilliant piece of business for United. But it proved to be one of the biggest transfer mistakes the club has made. The Chilean may have been outstanding for Arsenal and his country, but his attitude at United was terrible and he later confessed to wanting to leave after his first day of training.
He had hardly any memorable moments in his 18 months at Old Trafford, during which he earned a reported £400,000-per-week. In that time he scored a shocking five goals in all competitions. He was an unmitigated disaster, prompting cackles from City and Arsenal fans alike.
AdvertisementGetty Images26Wout Weghorst
In the winter of 2022, United lost a five-time Ballon d'Or winner and replaced him with a Burnley reject. Wout Weghorst was a low-cost loan and was only supposed to be a squad player, but he ended up becoming a regular starter due to Anthony Martial's injury problems.
He worked hard and had a couple of good moments, but as the weeks wore on it became clearer and clearer that he was simply not good enough to play for United. Weghorst ended his loan spell without scoring a single Premier League goal, missing a glaring chance against Fulham in his final match at Old Trafford.
Getty 25Radamel Falcao
There was immense excitement when Radamel Falcao signed on loan for United on deadline day in 2014, completing a whirlwind transfer window which also saw the arrival of Angel Di Maria and Ander Herrera.
Falcao and Di Maria combined in stunning fashion against Leicester City to set pulses racing, but the match had a sour ending as the newly-promoted Foxes ran out 5-3 winners. So too did Falcao's career at Old Trafford.
The Colombian was nowhere near to full fitness after suffering a horrific knee injury the previous year which had sidelined him for nine months and forced him to miss the World Cup. He scored just four league goals in 26 appearances for the Red Devils and had another poor loan spell at Chelsea before resurrecting his career back with Monaco.
Getty 24Federico Macheda
As first impressions go, it was hard to beat. Federico Macheda had never even been a first-team substitute but, aged 17, he was hauled off the bench and thrust into the thick of the action with United trailing 2-1 to Aston Villa in April 2009.
What happened next was the stuff of dreams. With the score 2-2 and the game heading into the 90th minute, the teenager took a pass from Ryan Giggs, turned on the spot and curled the ball into the far corner, snatching a win that gave United the edge in the title race against Liverpool. A week later, he scored the winner at Sunderland too.
That was about as good as it got for Macheda, who is now on his 12th club and seeing out his career in Cyprus. He scored a total of five goals in 36 games with United and has admitted that he didn't push himself hard enough. But in one crazy week he earned United four points which made the difference between losing the title to Liverpool and winning it.
