In a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rasmus Højlund discussed, among other things, his time at Manchester United.

When asked about his thoughts on why things didn’t work out at Old Trafford, Højlund singled out the arrival of Ruben Amorim after Erik ten Hag’s dismissal.

“I don’t think anything specific went wrong. I arrived at a club with a manager: it was a difficult year, with many injuries, but we won the FA Cup and I was the top scorer. Then we went through a difficult period and Amorim arrived, an excellent coach but with a different playing style. The team had to adapt, and it was complicated. We all struggled. My first year was a success, the second wasn’t. But I played in the Europa League final; if we had won, it would have been a different story. That’s football: sometimes it goes well, other times it goes badly, but I’m very happy to have played for the club I dreamed of as a child.”

The young Dane moved to Man United ahead of the 2023/24 season from Atalanta on the back of a €79.8m move. In his debut season, he made 43 appearances across all competitions, scoring 16 goals and providing two assists. In his second season, he managed just ten goals and four assists in 52 appearances. Thus followed a season-long loan at Napoli, which was made permanent this summer for €44 million.

What could have been

The price tag definitely did not help matters for Højlund. While teams often go out of their way to sign players for beyond-reason prices, something United have been particularly wont to do, those price tags do dictate how a player’s time at the club is perceived, even when players often hardly play a role in deciding the fee agreed between the negotiating clubs.

Højlund’s first-season numbers at United were comparable to the those he put up in his sole season at Atalanta, which in itself were consistent with the ones he posted in the years prior to his move to Bergamo. His second-season numbers took a hit for reasons he himself has acknowledged, though they didn’t fall too far off.

Now that is at Napoli, having already posted similar numbers in his first season with them, he’ll hope to stay at one place long enough to be able to build on his baseline numbers and establish himself as a striker who can be relied to deliver 20–30 goals a season.