Ten Hag may have signed an even bigger expertise than Hojlund in £139m star

Manchester United continued their Jekyll and Hyde begin to the 2023/24 season with one more defeat within the Premier League.

The 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace leaves the membership sitting on simply 9 factors from seven matches and Erik ten Hag will certainly be feeling the strain forward of the Champions League tie in opposition to Galatasaray this week.

It’s secure to say that his summer season signings have failed to actually hit the bottom working and it will have to be remedied if the Crimson Devils have any aspirations of successful trophies this season.

The likes of Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund have registered only one objective and one help between them since arriving in the summertime and contemplating the huge monetary outlay Ten Hag shelled out to convey them to Manchester, these figures have to be significantly better.

The Dane specifically, hasn’t fairly lived as much as expectations and whereas he definitely has time on his palms, may Ten Hag have signed somebody extra skilled to spearhead his assault?

How has Rasmus Hojlund carried out this season?

The 20-year-old has began three Premier League video games up to now for the Previous Trafford aspect, but has averaged a mediocre Sofascore ranking of simply 6.45, whereas averaging simply 0.5 pictures on track per sport, created zero massive possibilities whereas finishing simply 8.5 passes per sport, signifying his lack of affect. In fact, he’s nonetheless rising into the function however United wanted somebody able to make a right away affect.

Having burst onto the scene final season at Atalanta, scoring ten objectives for the Serie A aspect and rising as probably the most gifted kids on the continent, it was clear he can be transferring away from the membership before anticipated.

It was evident that United wanted a correct quantity 9, somebody who may provide a direct menace via the center moderately than the Dutchman having to depend on extensive gamers corresponding to Marcus Rashford and Antony.

He’s nonetheless a tough diamond, but when given the chance, he may turn into an exquisite striker who could stay on the membership for the foreseeable future.

Was the transfer maybe an excessive amount of of a raffle, nonetheless? With Ten Hag clearly requiring somebody who’s already a longtime member of the sport’s elite with a purpose to get the membership difficult for each home and European honours.

One identify that was being touted for a transfer to Manchester was Napoli centre-forward Victor Osimhen and their begin to the season could have appeared quite a bit in a different way had he been the person main the road moderately than Hojlund.

Did Manchester United practically signal Victor Osimhen?

The Nigerian sensation had a season to recollect for the Italian aspect throughout 2022/23 as he scored 31 objectives throughout all competitions, main Napoli to their first league title for the reason that halcyon days of Diego Maradona and co.

Such was his affect, that he even acquired reward from Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who lauded his affect of their title triumph, saying: “The true deal, or idán gangan as youthful of us could describe him; Victor has continued the nice custom of Nigeria’s footballing excellence on the worldwide stage. We’re all pleased with him and need him nicely in what’s already a exceptional profession.”

This kind naturally led to curiosity from a wide range of golf equipment throughout the continent, and it appeared as if he was going to depart the membership throughout the summer season switch.

Based on Italian information outlet Il Mattino, it was claimed that the Previous Trafford outfit held a bonus within the chase for Osimhen because the chase was heating up for the striker.

The report acknowledged that United must fork out an enormous €160m (£139m) with a purpose to lure the star to the Premier League. Though this was an eyewatering quantity, it was claimed that the membership had been front-runners as a consequence of trying negotiations the yr earlier than.

Is Victor Osimhen higher than Rasmus Hojlund?

Each gamers performed in Serie A final season and the 24-year-old received the higher of the younger Danish expertise throughout a variety of metrics.

Certainly, Osimhen not solely scored extra league objectives (29 to 9) and assists (4 to 2) however he additionally registered extra pictures on track per sport (1.7 to 0.9), averaged extra key passes per match (1.1 to 0.8) and scored on a extra frequent foundation (each 99 minutes to each 204 minutes), clearly suggesting he was a far greater menace in entrance of objective.

Not solely did Osimhen set up himself as top-of-the-line forwards in Italy, however his performances additionally led to him rating extremely throughout a variety of attacking metrics when in comparison with positional friends in Europe’s high 5 leagues.

Based on FBref, he sat within the high 1% for none-penalty objectives per 90 (0.88), the highest 1% for whole pictures per 90 (4.48) and the highest 2% for touches within the attacking penalty space per 90 (7.98), demonstrating how typically he appeared to get on the rating sheet and into key attacking areas throughout matches.

Compared, Hojlund did not rank within the high 30% for each non-penalty objectives (0.41) and whole pictures (2.78) per 90, whereas rating within the high 14% for touches within the opposition field per 90 (6.28) when in comparison with positional friends, and It is clear to see why Osimhen scored way more objectives final season.

Ten Hag could have discovered the Nigerian barely out of his value vary, but a extra concrete transfer ought to have been made to convey him to Manchester, particularly as he aimed to construct upon the regular progress from final time period.

Not solely does he discover the again of the online extra typically, however the Napoli hitman is mostly, a larger menace within the penalty space and there’s no doubt he may have made a a lot greater affect in a shorter area of time than Hojlund.

As reiterated, the Dane is barely a few years into his skilled profession and clearly has sufficient expertise to shine on the most important stage, however maybe a transfer to the Premier League has come too rapidly.

His growth could have been higher aided by remaining in Serie A with Atalanta and build up his confidence.

Ten Hag definitely missed a trick by failing to signal Osimhen and the error is changing into even worse following each dangerous end result.