Man Utd spent £72million on a deal to sign Rasmus Hojlund in the summer and club officials worked hard to get a deal over the line.
It was 3.30am on a warm summer’s evening in Bergamo when Manchester United made the decisive breakthrough in their attempts to sign Rasmus Hojlund.
Man Utd spent £72million on a deal to sign Rasmus Hojlund in the summer
Having assessed their list of options in the transfer window, United made the 20-year-old Dane their top target for the striker position and were determined to wrap up a deal quickly with Atalanta.
After the pre-season friendly with Real Madrid in Houston on July 26, football director John Murtough left United’s US tour and flew to Italy to lead the club’s negotiating team.
United ended up paying £72million for Hojlund, with £64million of that up-front, but the deal was concluded during a long day of talks between the two clubs. The United delegation arrived at Atalanta’s training ground in mid-afternoon for face-to-face talks and by late the same evening the Serie A side hadn’t budged from a demand for €90million, but the deal was eventually concluded in the early hours of the morning and by Saturday, July 28, the day of United’s final day in San Diego, news broke the striker was set to sign.
Reducing the add-ons was a key part of United’s talks with Atalanta and officials at the Italian club, who have watched the striker make a bright start to his career at Old Trafford, believe they got the raw end of a deal for a player who wanted to move to Old Trafford.
Rasmus Hojlund has scored three goals for United in the Champions League
Hojlund remains a work in progress, which United expected given his relative experience at the highest level, and there is a desire to improve his link-up play amongst the coaching staff at Carrington, but he has shown flashes of his potential. That was particularly the case in the last Champions League game when he scored two goals against Galatasaray, including a stunning second that displayed his pace, power and composure in front of goal.
It is moments like that which convince United they went for the right option in the summer. The negotiations in Italy came after the football department had thrashed out their own position with chief executive Richard Arnold and the owners, coming up with a value they felt was acceptable for Hojlund and finding a level that they were prepared to pay and a point at which they would walk away.
All roads led to the former FC Copenhagen youngster after United had assessed their options. They decided early in the window that they didn’t think Tottenham would do business over Harry Kane and didn’t want to get involved in a drawn-out pursuit. Ollie Watkins would have been expensive to prize away from Aston Villa and Brighton were steadfast in their refusal to sell Evan Ferguson.
United had been tracking Hojlund since his days in Denmark, but his move to Old Trafford was his third transfer in just 18 months. He left FC Copenhagen for Sturm Graz in January 2022 for just £1.5million, then moved to Atalanta six months later for around £13million, spending just a year there before his move to England.
Recruitment bosses decided against taking a punt on Hojlund a year ago because they felt they needed that cash in what was an expensive summer in Ten Hag’s first transfer window, with £225million spent on overhauling the squad. The then 19-year-old was also unproven at a level outside of Denmark and Austria and would have been a significant gamble at that stage of his career.
It was in September last year when their interest started to increase, watching him in every game and beginning background checks on his character and personality. United were impressed at the way he adapted to Serie A by the end of 2022 and felt Gian Piero Gasperini was a good manager to assess Hojlund’s work under, given his high demands.
It was at Christmas time that United added Hojlund to the mix of potential strikers but come the summer they had to be wary of clubs who also needed players in that position. While Bayern Munich went for Kane and Chelsea signed Nicolas Jackson, Paris St-Germain were keen on Hojlund and Randal Kolo Muani, as well as signing Goncalo Ramos from Benfica.
Man Utd ignored Kolo Muani to recruit Hojlund
United looked at Kolo Muani, who scored 23 goals in 46 games for Eintracht Frankfurt last season and also scored for France in the World Cup, but were unsure whether he could adapt to the Premier League. They also wanted a No. 9 who could hold-up play and link the play, while Kolo Muani likes to drop off.
Hojlund fitted the bill and recruitment chiefs felt his potential also outstripped that of Kolo Muani. United acted swiftly to sign the 20-year-old to avoid getting into a bidding war with PSG, who ended up paying €95million for Kolo Muani on deadline day.
Hojlund looks a bargain by comparison and he will be desperate to remind his hometown club of the mistake they made in selling him so cheaply in the January window in 2022. In September 2021, Hojlund started up front for FC Copenhagen in a cup game against Nykobing, who were in a league below, but he was hooked after just 27 minutes, which essentially signalled the end of his career at the club.
He’s proved that to be a mistake ever since and while Ten Hag wants him to channel his determination against his former club in the right way on Tuesday, he believes the goals will become more regular once he is in tune with his teammates.
“First of all we have to work on our routines, he missed pre-season, miss the first four games, but from the moment he came in he gives the team a lot,” he said.
“When the routines and the combinations will be better then that split moment will give him the time to make better decisions to score more goals.
“Against Galatasaray it was definitely two brilliant goals as well as the one in Munich, he is always in scoring positions in our team. I am sure, I am confident for Marcus Rashford the same, in every game when we as a team do what we have to do they will be in scoring positions and then it’s about the finishing. When you analyse the games so far you see they are in scoring positions.”
