Subscribe to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter and receive it in your inbox for no cost.
Subscribe to Miguel Delaney’s weekly newsletter for free.
Erik ten Hag affirmed that Rasmus Hojlund’s injury does not have to derail Manchester United’s season, despite the club’s lack of success in signing another striker in January being brought into question once again.
Hojlund will be absent for the upcoming match against Fulham and the FA Cup match at Nottingham Forest, as well as the following Sunday’s derby against Manchester City. This is due to a muscle injury that may keep him out of play for up to three weeks, causing him to potentially miss a total of five games.
This is a major setback for Hojlund, who has been on a hot streak lately. The 21-year-old Danish player has netted seven goals in his last six games for United. This leaves Ten Hag with limited choices for the offensive front, as Anthony Martial will be out until April due to groin surgery.
However, Ten Hag stated that Hojlund cannot be solely credited for United’s recent increase in scoring.
“Hojlund has been quite significant recently,” he expressed. “But the top player? I don’t view it in that way. I believe Alejandro Garnacho, in particular, has been performing exceptionally well in the recent matches…”
“Marcus Rashford, also known as ‘Rashy,’ is a skilled player who has the potential to score. Despite only having five goals, he has proven his ability to find the back of the net. In recent games, our entire frontline has been a formidable threat, with players like Rasmus Hojlund, Garnacho, Rashford, and Scott McTominay all contributing to our scoring success. Even Bruno Fernandes has the potential to score a goal.”
“In the past, the frontline did not perform well and were not seen as a threat during the autumn season. However, currently they are in excellent form and pose a continuous threat. I am confident that even without Rasmus Hojlund, they will continue to perform well.”
Our frontline is exceptionally strong and will not be perceived as an easy opponent. Our opponents will undoubtedly fear our frontline.
Ten Hag has previously expressed his interest in bringing in a new striker last month, but United was unable to do so due to concerns about the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations.
However, on Friday, the manager was asked about the choice to allocate £60 million towards Mason Mount in the previous year, despite having a sufficient number of midfielders. This decision was made instead of investing in the forward position, considering Martial’s consistent struggle with staying healthy for an entire season.
“Are you a manager for a football team?” he responded.
“If it were that simple… I have already mentioned the issue of finances. Finding suitable strikers is always a challenge, especially at our level. We had two options for strikers.”
“I understand the reasoning for Martial, as he had a fantastic season with us last year. Additionally, he is one of the highest paid players on our team. Bringing in another player would essentially replace him, so there are valid arguments against doing so.”
“Next, there’s Marcus Rashford, who excels in a forward position. In total, we had three strikers on our team to choose from.”
Ten Hag stated that it would be simplistic to assume that acquiring another forward would be an easy task.
According to him, acquiring a fourth striker for your team when you already have three is not a cost-effective decision. It may result in reduced opportunities for the existing strikers.
“We believed we had choices, but as the season progressed, I desired to acquire a new forward during the winter transfer window. Unfortunately, it was not feasible. Furthermore, we had already encountered issues with FFP during the previous summer.”
Source: independent.co.uk
