United View: United sign Rasmus Hojlund

Manchester United are set to announce the signing of Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta in a deal worth around £72 million.

The 20-year-old Dane becomes the Reds’ third summer signing and is set to sign a five-year contract at Old Trafford.

United have been on the hunt for a striker this window after a turbulent season with their front-line last season. The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, along with Anthony Martial’s injury problems left United turning to an emergency loan for Wout Weghorst.

Harry Kane was considered as an option, but it was decided early on that no attempt would be made for the Tottenham striker due to financial restraints and thus attention turned to Hojlund.

After Kane, Hojlund was one of Ten Hag’s top choices and while he addresses United’s need for a number nine, many will be wondering what he can bring and why he costs so much.

Well, he's a 6-foot 3-inch, blonde-haired, left-footed, Scandinavian striker and while this does sound familiar, I’m not describing Erling Haaland. It doesn’t help that even their names sound alike too.

But Hojlund is not the same goal-scoring machine that Haaland was at his age. With Hojlund netting 16 goals across all competitions last season.

What he can offer is electric pace and a high work rate to match, reportedly running the 100m in under 11 seconds. Making lots of forward runs into the channels to stretch an opposition's defence.

He also likes to run with the ball at speed and considering that Ten Hag wants United to become one of the best teams at transition, it makes sense why he wanted to bring in Hojlund.

Last season, Hojlund averaged 10.99 progressive passes received, which means he has the ability to run in behind or come short to help link the play. And Atalanta is not a possession-based team, therefore these receptions would have greatly benefitted his team.

For many the job of a striker is to score goals and while I agree that Hojlund will have to increase his attacking output at Old Trafford, Ten Hag likes his strikers to help build up play in addition to scoring goals.

However, he is also very young and inexperienced, which isn’t necessarily negative as he carries much of the youthful naivety you desire in a forward. Picking up the ball and running at an opponent with seemingly no fear.

The high price and being a Manchester United player will immediately put pressure on Hojlund to perform. And it will be interesting to see how he deals with this, especially as he will be competing against better opposition, who are more capable of dealing with pacey forwards.

At the time of writing the deal is yet to be confirmed by United, but Hojlund is set to meet up with his new team as they arrive home from their US tour. It’s important that he settles early before the start of the season on August 14th against Wolves.

Like any big-money signing, it’s a risk but Hojlund has lots of potential and United have been persistent in their efforts to lure him to Old Trafford. But only time will tell if it's worth the money they have spent on him.

It is at least refreshing to see United stick to some kind of transfer strategy, rather than just attempting to sign a big name to fill in a gap. And if reports are true, this may not be the last deal the Reds make before the end of the window.

But for now, it looks like United have finally solved one of their burning issues from last season and have got a striker. Now it's time to see if it was worth the wait.