Analysing Rasmus Hojlund's first 20 games for Man United | OneFootball

Highlights

Rasmus Hojlund arrived at Manchester United in the summer for big money after signing a five-year contract. Atalanta received an initial £64m, with £8m in add-ons, meaning the transfer could one day earn them £72m.

Still only 20 years of age, the Denmark international has been signed for the future as well as the present. But when that level of money is spent, fans will expect some sort of immediate return on their club's investment. And yet, the jury is still out on whether this is shaping up to be a good bit of business or the latest in a lengthy catalogue of ill-advised transfers at Old Trafford.

With that said, here at GIVEMESPORT, we think 20 games is a healthy selection of football to reflect on the early stages of Hojlund's Man Utd career. Taking into account statistics from WhoScored, FBREF and Transfermarkt, we will look at the striker's displays so far this term, to essentially work out if he's been any good.

Hojlund's goalscoring output

Poor in the Premier League, better in Europe

In the simplest of terms, all strikers are judged on their goalscoring ability. In 34 senior games for Atalanta, the 20-year-old netted 10 times, which is a rate of one goal in every 3.4 games. So far for the Red Devils, he has five goals in 20 outings, which is one in every four appearances. This isn't a huge drop-off, but he also provided four assists in that period at his former club and is yet to deliver any such telling passes for his teammates in England.

Most worryingly for United, however, is the fact that he has been unable to get his name on the scoresheet in the Premier League despite having featured 12 times in the competition this term, starting nine of those matches for a total of 789 minutes. He also failed to score in two substitute appearances off the bench in the League Cup, meaning his only efforts have been in the Champions League.

In that sense then, it's been a slow start to his career and to the average fan, it's not as though Hojlund has really caught the eye, nor has he done much to justify his lengthy price tag. Perhaps, though, some of his underlying metrics will suggest better things are to come.

Underlying metrics

Nothing to write home about

When comparing the entire Man Utd squad, Hojlund has the joint best-expected goals this season. He sits level with Bruno Fernandes with an xG of 6.1, but the captain's non-penalty xG is actually only 3.8 without penalties, while Hojlund's remains the same. So, with five goals from an xG of 6.1, the Dane probably should have scored one goal more than expected this term, which isn't too bad. He also has 1.1 expected assists, so can count himself unlucky not to have at least one to his name this term.

One area he could improve in is his shots per game. In the Premier League, for instance, he has averaged 1.82. Compare that to Marcus Rashford (2.95), and Erling Haaland (3.75), and you can see that the 20-year-old can do more to forge goalscoring opportunities for himself. At least he fares better than Antony Martial who averaged just 1.20 shot per league game this term.

As per WhoScored, he has delivered 16 key passes this term in the league, which ranks him sixth in the squad. He's expected to score more than provide, but it's certainly an area where Hojlund could improve. However, as he only makes an average of about 11 passes per game (the worst in the squad of players with over five starts), completing them at a rate of 76.5%, it's clear that United need to get him on the ball more if they want to improve creative output from their striker – although that isn't his game, so it's unlikely he'll improve massively in this area.

It doesn't look good when it comes to shot-creating actions either. He averaged just 2.39 per game, 11th in the squad, behind fellow attacking teammates such as Rashford, Martial, Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and others.

Seeing as the striker is 1.91m (6'3') tall, it would be fair to assume that he is good in the air but the stats suggest this isn't the case. Hojlund wins just 0.68 aerial duels per game. This is fewer than both Rashford (0.9) and Martial (1.6) despite them both being around 10cm shorter.

Compared to players past and present

Hojlund isn't the only Man Utd forward to struggle

In fairness to Hojlund as much as his pure goalscoring output has been poor, he's not the only Red Devil to have struggled this term. Midfielders Scott McTominay and Fernandes have both netted six and five goals respectively, but the attacking players haven't really delivered.

In the Premier League, for instance, Rashford has two goals, while Garnacho and Martial have just one each. Antony is yet to score as well. If the whole squad is struggling to find the back of the next on a regular basis, it would be unfair to put all the blame on Hojlund.

And when you look back historically, it's not as though he is the first United player to struggle in the early stages of his time at Old Trafford. For instance, Alexis Sanchez scored just three goals and picked up five assists in his first 20 games. Even a proven goalscorer such as Radamel Falcao struggled at Old Trafford with only four goals and five assists in his 29 total appearances for the Red Devils. We also shouldn't forget that Diego Forlan failed to score in his first 23 Premier League games for the club.

The concerning thing is that all those players mentioned before failed to ever really prove themselves to the club after a shaky start. It's certainly too early to write off Hojlund, but it's fair to say he's up against it already.

And when you think of all the good attacking players to have flopped at Old Trafford over the past decade or so – from current men like Sancho, Martial and Antony, to past signings such as Angel Di Maria, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Memphis Depay – he doesn't have a great deal of inspiration.

All in all, the signs don't look to be particularly promising. However, his form isolated in Europe – five goals in six games – is certainly something to build up. If he can carry those Champions League performances into the Premier League, he might be alright.

With options limited in attack at the club right now too, he is certain to get plenty of opportunities to prove himself over the rest of the season. What's more, still just 20, he has plenty of time to develop. So don't write him off just yet by any means - although it would be wrong to suggest Hojlund has shown his best in a Man United shirt after his first 20 appearances for the club.