CONFIRMED: Man Utd press ahead for Atalanta's Rasmus Hojlund

Jacque Talbot

Updated: 18 Jul 2023 17:14 BST
3 min read

Man Utd are still linked with Rasmus Hojlund — © ProShots

Manchester United are set to press ahead to secure a deal with Atalanta for Rasmus Hojlund, FootballTransfers understands.

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Erik ten Hag asked the club to make a big push this week after personal terms were verbally agreed with the player.

As we revealed, Hojlund green-lighted a contract with the club in principle, with his agency, SEG, heading the deal through CEO Kees Vos and agent Kees Ploegsma.

The 20-year-old switched to the Amsterdam-based firm to secure a Premier League move earlier this year and is hopeful of making the move to Old Trafford.

Atalanta ideally wanted to make a sale for the attacker in 2024 when his value potentially could rise two-fold but Ten Hag has made it clear he wants to bring the youngster in this summer. Hojlund has expressed that he would seek out a transfer request if a fee isn’t agreed upon between the two parties and also wants to make a switch ahead of next season.

There is confidence that a deal can be struck, for an amount, sources tell us, that's not near to the £85 millon margin that’s been reported. We are told that a fee of around £60m would be enough to seize Hojlund and make him the club’s third signing of the window following Mason Mount and Andre Onana.

Atalanta are not keen on taking on Man Utd players in a swap deal because of the high wages they are on but there is a potential for a deal to be struck if the Premier League offer to greatly subsidise this.

Ten Hag eyes compartiot

Man Utd will only move for Ten Hag’s top midfield target Sofyan Amrabat when Fred or Scott McTominay are moved off the wage bill.

Told Erik ten Hag has pin-pointed Sofyan Amrabat as his main target for Man Utd’s midfield and will action a move for the Fiorentina player once the deals of Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund are wrapped up and Fred is moved on. Much more on @Transfersdotcom soon.
— Jacque Talbot (@jac_talbot) July 8, 2023

Sources have informed us that Ten Hag wanted either Declan Rice or Frenkie de Jong for the upcoming window but the ongoing and protracted takeover saga, which has severely restricted the head coach’s transfer kitty, and Financial Fair Play regulations mean he will look to Amrabat to bolster the double-pivot of his 4-2-3-1 formation next campaign.

The Moroccan 26-year-old is with agency CAA Stellar and already has a number of proposals on the table.