Rasmus Hojlund has a better goal conversion rate than Erling Haaland this season | OneFootball

There has been much chatter around Manchester United’s £72m summer recruit, Rasmus Hojlund, this season.

In many ways it is difficult to properly assess his first season in England.

On the one hand he has gone for long periods of the season without scoring, famously taking until Boxing Day to open his account in domestic football.

Moreover, he has only scored two goals since the 18th of February, where he grabbed a brace against Luton Town.

However, he did score five goals in the Champions League and is still the competition’s fifth top scorer despite not playing in it since December when United were knocked out in the group stages.

In addition, he has found the back of the net 15 times in all competitions and is the club’s joint top goalscorer with Bruno Fernandes.

Last night the young Dane came off the bench to grab a crucial third goal which gave the Red Devils the cushion late on to eventually win the match 3-2 and keep their European hopes alive to the final game of the season against Brighton.

Statman Dave brought up an interesting statistic which perhaps highlights how the former Atalanta striker is not getting the praise he deserves in his first season in England.

The football statistician posted on X, “Rasmus Hojlund has now got a better chance conversion (24%) than Erling Haaland (23%) in the Premier League this season.”

It is easy to look at Hojlund’s long goal droughts and of course, no player should be exempt from blame.

He often struggles to hold the ball up and can have a loose first touch but all this is common for a player who really doesn’t have that much experience of first team football.

Erik ten Hag has already confirmed that the original plan was not for Hojlund to come in right away and lead the line as he wanted to sign Harry Kane. What’s more, INEOS hope to bring in another striker in the summer to ease the burden on the young man for the upcoming season.

Anthony Martial’s complete disappearance since December has also hardly helped the Dane.

He has had to live off scraps as it was reported that United players were unwilling to pass to him as they did not trust him and were not convinced of his talents.

In addition, before the game last night, Hojlund had only five chances in eight matches. No striker in world football could score under such conditions.

Former United captain Gary Neville has subsequently claimed that the player could have a very good career but will never be a top-class Premier League striker.

Statman Dave’s statistic obviously does not mean Hojlund is better than Haaland, far from it. But what it does show is that there is lethal striker in there, who if given a reasonable amount of chances, will probably score a hatful of goals.

It stands to reason that if the player is in a more creative team next year, coupled with a year’s experience under his belt playing in English football, the boyhood United fan can certainly aim to break the 20 goal barrier on a regular basis in the forthcoming years.

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