At a glance
- Hojlund was labelled ‘finished’ at Manchester United
- Bouncing back with Napoli helped him rediscover ‘love for football’
- Move expected to become permanent in the summer
Manchester United’s on-loan striker Rasmus Hojlund has offered an honest take on his time at Old Trafford.
In a recent interview with TV2, he opened up about his experiences in both Manchester and Naples. Hojlund initially joined United from Serie A side Atalanta in 2023 for around £72 million. It was a hefty risk for a player who had barely proven himself in senior football.
After two seasons with the Red Devils, Hojlund joined Napoli last summer on loan with a view to a permanent move at the end of the season. One of the conditions was that Napoli qualify for the Champions League.
Antonio Conte’s side currently sits in third position, eight points ahead of Juventus, who are fifth. The Danish international was initially drafted in by Conte as a replacement for former United striker Romelu Lukaku, who was out injured for the first four months of the season.
Hojlund said regarding his current situation: “Here at Napoli, I’ve rediscovered my love for football. People even back in Denmark were writing me off, but I never stopped believing.”
The striker has scored 14 goals in 37 games across all competitions for the current Italian champions. It is a massive contrast to his time at Old Trafford, where he was struggling with both confidence and goals. It coincided with United’s worst-ever Premier League finish under then-manager Ruben Amorim.
Remarkably, Hojlund only managed 13 shots on target in the Premier League last season. Despite his early struggles and current fight for starting games, Benjamin Sesko has looked like a far more polished version of the young striker United envisage to lead their line.
“Finished” Hojlund never gave up
The Dane implied that his time under Amorim restricted him. He added:
“I was put in a bit of a box at the end in Manchester. I knew there wouldn’t be much football for me if it continued like this. If we look at the recent periods at Manchester United I did not perform well. I’m aware of that, but now many things have changed. They even said I was finished in Denmark. but I never gave up.”
Hojlund was not part of Amorim’s official ‘bomb squad’, but was not selected for the opening couple of Premier League fixtures. By the time that United signed Sesko from RB Leipzig, the writing was on the wall for Hojlund.
His first season at United looked very different from his last. He looked like the answer that fans were looking for, scoring 16 goals in all competitions during the 2023/24 season.
Reflecting on his time at United, he said: “I was happy to play football in Manchester. I know that, especially in Denmark, a media image was formed that it was all just s*** and terrible, and that I played like a bag of nuts, but that’s not how I look at it.”
