Man Utd may finally sign their own Erling Haaland in £50m Rasmus Hojlund

He won the treble with City and managed 52 goals in 53 games across all competitions – while United’s entire team managed 103 goals in 62 matches. That comes after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Haaland’s former manager at Molde, pushed to bring his countryman to United in 2020.

He said publicly: “He is a player I like. We are always looking for good players. Erling has had a nice development and he should keep developing where he decides to go. I don’t need to talk much about him.” But despite a December 2019 between Solskjaer and Haaland, United would not agree to financial stipulations demanded by the player’s representatives.

Dortmund’s Hans-Joachim Watzke claimed: “We gave Erling Haaland a release clause, otherwise he would have gone to Manchester United.” Haaland joined Dortmund the next month for £17m and has since scored 138 goals in just 142 games at club level.

United, though, may now be about to sign their own version of the Terminator-like centre-forward in Atalanta’s Rasmus Hojlund. The Dane does not offer the same goalscoring pedigree just yet – though he has six in six for Denmark and 10 in 34 for Atalanta – but does offer some of the same predatory attributes.

He said himself on the comparisons to Haaland: “I can see the similarities: he’s fast, I’m also fast; he’s left-footed, I’m also left-footed; he’s strong, and I’m strong too. I hope that I can reach his level.”

While Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini also backed him up. The Italian said: “Hojlund has this spirit, energy, and intensity, but also the technical quality that is just remarkable. He still has so much margin for improvement, too. He has very similar characteristics to Haaland, not just his face.

“He is so quick, he’s under 11 seconds over 100m and that’s not even trying very hard. Considering his height, he has a low centre of gravity and can move his legs very fast. I am convinced he’ll have a great career; he just gets stronger every day.”

The No 9 has been installed as United’s No 1 target up top per the Telegraph and an opening offer is being prepared. Randal Kolo Muani of Eintracht Frankfurt is another target but Ten Hag reportedly prefers Hojlund and hopes a deal can be done at around £50m.

Hojlund’s Danish team-mate Christian Eriksen, of course a United player, is also a big fan of his. He said: “I can see him at Manchester United but I haven’t recommended him to Erik ten Hag. He is a fantastic guy and a good player and has really developed brilliantly at Atalanta.”

The breakthrough Serie A star has huge potential and is a player whom Ten Hag could build his attack around. And whether he can be as big a success as Haaland in England is something United are hoping to find out.