How does Ten Hag solve HUGE Hojlund problem?

Sam McGuire

• 29 Jul 2023 21:57 BST
• 5 min read

Manchester United will make Rasmus Hojlund his third major transfer of the summer.

Erik ten Hag is set to invest heavily in the 20-year-old Atalanta forward, with a deal worth €85 million a record for Man Utd to spend on a striker.

Man Utd have beaten off competition from PSG to signHojlund, too, but his priority was always Man Utd.

The Denmark international only made the move to Serie A last term for an initial €17m fee. He netted nine times in the Italian top-flight and his performances, for both club and country, caught the eye of a lot of top teams across Europe.

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Likened to Erling Haaland, Hojlund has the potential to be one of the most exciting forwards of this generation, but his talent needs to be nurtured. United don’t necessarily have the best track record of this over recent years but having seen what Ten Hag did during his debut season with the club, there are reasons to be hopeful.

Hojlund, who currently has a maximum Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €30m, has been earmarked as the man to spearhead the attack for the Red Devils, both in the short term and in the long term. But United need to get the dynamic right.

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Man Utd stacked with attacking options

It has gone a little under the radar due to the focus being on Ten Hag not having a reliable out-and-out No. 9 at his disposal, but the 2022/23 FA Cup finalists are fairly stacked in the final third.

New signing Mason Mount can play anywhere behind the striker while Bruno Fernandes has also played all three roles during his career - operating on the left, the right and as an attacking midfielder too.

Anthony Martial was supposed to be a centre-forward but injuries and external factors have stunted his development. He’s now a winger-cum-striker in the same mould as a few others in the United team.

Marcus Rashford falls into this category too. The 25-year-old recently penned a new deal at Old Trafford after a return to form during the 2022/23 campaign under Ten Hag. The England international scored 17 times in the Premier League and finished with 30 across all competitions to make it his most productive season to date.

The Dutch tactician even claimed he felt his No.10 could score even more: "I'm sure he's capable of scoring 40 goals in the season and to make also for him the next step."

Rashford spent the majority of the campaign flitting between the left wing and playing as a central striker. In fact, his run of goals following the World Cup break arrived with him almost exclusively playing on the left, but he finished the season leading the line.

United also have Jadon Sancho and Alejandro Garnacho. Both players can operate on either flank, though Sancho’s best goalscoring form for Dortmund arrived when he was on the left side of the front three. Garnacho, who signed a new long-term deal in April, favours the left flank as it allows him to cut inside onto his stronger right foot.

On the left, Antony could well be competing with Amad Diallo for minutes. The former Ajax man didn’t have the greatest season following his big-money move from Amsterdam but a lot of players have a difficult debut campaign in the Premier League. With a more settled system, the 23-year-old might be able to replicate the form he showed in the Eredivisie.

Here’s the tricky part though: Ten Hag needs to figure out a way to balance this all out.

United will have to play to Hojlund’s strengths to get the best out of him and a lot of the good he did for Atalanta arrived in and around the area. He’s very clever in his movement and he’s exceptional at picking up space. If he’s doing that, it limits the space for, say, Rashford to attack from the outside. If he instead opts to use Fernandes or Mount in wide areas for their creativity, United lose pace in the final third.

You would have to assume that Fernandes, having recently been named as the new club captain, is a cert to start. Mount is another who will likely be favoured by Ten Hag. He won’t have agreed to the move if he wasn’t given some playing time guarantees. So maybe United’s new-look front four is made up of Rashford on the left, Mount on the right with Fernandes behind Hojlund. There’s a balance to that four that would be missing if other pieces of the attacking jigsaw were used.