Rasmus Höilund is a footballer on the rise. In three seasons, the Danish striker has gone from a lackluster start in Copenhagen to a transfer target for Manchester United. Manchester United urgently needs a striker, Paris Saint-Germain also showed interest in the 20-year-old, so Atalanta boldly put an impressive price on the player. According to Fabrizio Romano, the Mancunians agreed to pay 70 million euros for the footballer. Just 18 months ago, his native Copenhagen valued him at 1.95 million euros.
More about the deal:
Rasmus Höylund signs for Manchester United for 70 million euros – Romano
Høylund’s move to Old Trafford is intriguing given his style of play and the stage of his career. He made his senior debut at the age of 17 in October 2020 and scored no goals in the Danish league in 19 games before being sent to Sturm Austria in January 2022. There he scored 12 goals in 21 games and caught the eye of the Atalanta.
Manchester United have long needed a striker
Manchester United have already lost a young Scandinavian striker and will not repeat the mistake a second time. “I called United about six months before I joined and said they had an interesting striker, but they didn’t listen to me,” former club manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said in early 2023. He was referring, of course, to Erling Haaland.
Solskjaer and Holland in Molde
Photo: Ross Parker/Getty Images
“I only asked for four million, but they never signed it. Four million!” – It was 2018 and Haaland was playing with Solskjaer for the Norwegian Mold. At the time, Erling was not yet a goal-scoring machine ready to tear apart the Premier League in his first season in the league, but even then the youngster forward attracted the attention of teams from all over Europe.
Let’s go back to our days. While Haaland deals with his pre-season with Manchester City, United finalize the signing of Danish striker Rasmus Høylund. With the purchase of Mason Mount from Chelsea and Andre Onan from Inter, recruiting a new striker has become a priority for Erik ten Hag. The 2-0 defeat against Barcelona in a friendly on June 27 forced the coach to publicly point out the team’s weakness: “The result shows why we need a striker. Absolutely”.
The main thing from another Manchester United newcomer:
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The Atalanta player was not the club’s main target for the summer – there were rumors that the Red Devils were set to challenge Tottenham’s Harry Kane – but Høylund will give fans some welcome anticipation. If the potential signing of the star from Spurs would guarantee Manchester United the services of a top striker for the next 3-4 seasons, then the purchase of Rasmus could solve the problem of a scoring center forward for a decade.
Heilund’s heyday last season
Atalanta bought the Danish from the Austrian Sturm just a year ago for around 17 million euros and settled very quickly in Serie A, especially considering his young age.
Atalanta fans have only seen their best this year, with eight of the striker’s nine league goals scored in the second half of the season; only eight Serie A players have scored more in the same span. Duvan Zapata’s injuries gave Høilund a chance to shine and he took advantage of it. A stretch of regular starts allowed the striker to pick up the pace and show strength.
Høylund marks for Denmark
Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/Getty Images
Outside of Italy, the boy made a name for himself in March, when Rasmus scored five goals in two debut games for the Danish national team, with Finland and Kazakhstan. Atalanta quickly realized that he had a future star on his hands, for which he could get a large sum. The key point is that the striker has not revealed his full potential yet.
Rasmus – the new Holland?
There are doubts about Høylund’s willingness to play a central role in an attack by a club of the stature of Manchester United. In addition to Kane, the Red Devils were associated with an interest in Victor Osimhen – for two, Tottenham and Napoli forwards scored 56 goals in the English and Italian championships. Manchester United, which is in the process of changing ownership, decided not to overpay for strikers who are in their prime.
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Clearly, Heilunn is not yet at the level of Harry and Victor, but it has great potential for development. She has a number of qualities that have already earned her comparisons to Haaland, not just because of her Scandinavian heritage and her blonde hair. The City forward terrifies opponents with a combination of strength and speed. Standing at 185 cm tall, Rasmus has a similar set of skills: he is a fast, powerful striker with lightning-fast acceleration that allows him to outrun opponents he defends. If you allow the Dane to speed up with the ball, it becomes difficult to stop him.
Gian Piero Gasperini
Atalanta manager
“Hoylunn has a strong character, energy and high intensity, while his technical qualities are simply amazing. It has many development opportunities. Based on his features, he is very similar to Holland. He is so fast that it takes him less than 11 seconds to run 100 meters, and that’s effortlessly. I’m sure he has a great career ahead of him, he’s getting stronger every day.”
How will Manchester United use Heilund?
His speed will come in handy for United as the team often relies on quick counter-attacks. Manchester United scored more counter-attacking goals last season (nine) than any other team in the Premier League. Although only one of Höilund’s nine goals in Serie A was counted as a counterattack, the Mancunians have every opportunity to improve their personal statistics in this component.
Høylund in action for Atalanta
Photo: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
Rasmus knows how to not just pass opponents at speed and hold on to riding casts. In Erik ten Hag’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, the center forward must score goals (something players in this position struggled to do last season) and involve his teammates in attacks. Høilund is good at this, last season his passing success rate was 74.3%, which is very good for a player of his profile. Rasmus knows how to keep the ball, lead other attacking players and create chances for teammates.
But who will throw Heilunn:
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There are also some obvious difficult points in his game, for example, the game in the final phase. Only one United player scored more than 10 league goals last season and that was Marcus Rashford with 17 goals. The Englishman, who recently extended his contract with Manchester United, admitted that he does not feel comfortable in the center of attack, so the Dane, in fact, will not have a serious competitor in position, and that could become a problem. .
Ten Hag needs someone who can put the ball in the net. Høilund’s nine goals in 1,836 minutes of play is a solid figure but not too impressive. His conversion rate was just 16.7% and he missed 11 clear chances on goal, the eighth most in Serie A, even though Rasmus spent just 54% of Atalanta’s minutes on the pitch.
Your implementation can be improved with the right approach, and United has the right person. Benny McCarthy came to the club last summer specifically to work with the forwards and, according to The Guardian, was instrumental in Rashford’s transformation. McCarthy helped Marcus become the first Red Devils player in 10 years to score 30 goals in a season in all competitions. Clearly Heilunn will be in for a personal lesson or two from the South African.
Benny McCarthy with Cristiano Ronaldo
Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images
The former striker has been a Manchester United fan since he was a child and even scored two goals against the Red Devils with Porto in the 2003/2004 Champions League. Benny admitted that he always wanted to play for United, but he’s already joined the club as manager; since last summer, McCarthy has been part of Ten Hag’s coaching staff.
There are doubts that Høylund is prepared to play a central role in Manchester’s attack from the start, and the club could be in trouble if the team enters the season with the only option in front. Rasmus’s move to a club of United’s caliber is in itself a pressure and the player will need to be brought on board gradually. The Dane will have to be patient, but he has the potential to become a world star.
