Rio has it all wrong about Hojlund

Suraj Radia

• 13 Dec 2023 10:02 CST
• 3 min read

Rio Ferdinand has named five Premier League stars who Manchester United could sign in January to help provide Rasmus Hojlund with the service he needs to end his barren run in front of goal.

Hojlund has failed to score in the Premier League since his €75 million move from Atalanta in the summer, with no goals in 12 appearances despite netting five times in six Champions League games.

Speaking on his Vibe with Five podcast, Ferdinand believes United need natural wingers who ‘beat the full-back and cross’ compared to the current wide players at the club who prefer to ‘get a shot off’.

“If Man United had [Michael] Olise, Jack Harrison, [Dwight] McNeil at Everton, Jacob Murphy at Newcastle – any one of those four wingers, I reckon [Hojlund] would have five or six goals by now,” Ferdinand said.

“Why? Because they cross the ball. All four of those boys, their first thought is, get the ball, head down, either beat the full-back and cross or give me a yard and cross the ball.

“He [Hojlund] needs service. [Jarrod] Bowen [is another option for United]. These guys want to provide, we've got wingers who either want to get a shot off, shoot, beat someone.”

Why Ferdinand may be wrong in his assessment of United

Of the players mentioned by Ferdinand, Harrison and Murphy have the most assists each with three – the same amount as United’s leading creator in Bruno Fernandes, who is the only one of Erik ten Hag’s players to have set up more than one Premier League goal this season.

However, Ferdinand’s claim that United need more crossing may be misguided, with only two teams in the league whipping the ball in more than Ten Hag’s side.

While United’s wide players do average more shots than deliveries per game, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw all provide one or more cross a match – something which only 25 players in the league do.

Perhaps a more worrying factor would be Hojlund’s poor ability in the air, with the 20-year-old winning just 22.2% of his aerial duels and averaging less per game than teammates Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial despite being more than 10cm taller than the pair.

Ultimately Hojlund’s struggles appear to be more geared towards a young striker adapting to a new league in a team that lacks a cohesive identity in attack and United’s poor display in front of goal may represent a deeper issue rather than something that can be solved simply with personnel changes.