Comparing Rasmus Hojlund to Erling Haaland Ahead of the Danish Star’s Manchester United Debut

• Manchester United have signed Rasmus Hojlund from Serie A side Atalanta
• He is being compared to Manchester City star striker, Erling Haaland
• Haaland scored more goals than Hojlund before joining the Premier League

Manchester United have finally got their man.

The Red Devils bolstered their attack just weeks before the start of the new Premier League season, signing Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta in a deal worth £72 million.

Comparisons are now being made between Hojlund and Manchester City star striker, Erling Haaland.

Sports Brief looks at their respective football careers before they joined the English top flight.

Hojlund’s career before United switch

Hojlund started his football career with youth spells at Danish sides Boldklubben af 1893 and Brondby. He then made his senior debut with Copenhagen in 2020, doing so at the young age of 17.

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He struggled with the physicality of the Danish Superliga, however. He failed to find the back of the net in his 19 appearances for Copenhagen in the league, per the BBC.

It is important to mention, though, that he only made two starts for Copenhagen out of those 19 matches.

He left the club in January 2022, moving to Sturm Graz for a fee of £1.5 million. Transferring to Austria helped him tremendously as he started scoring goals for fun.

He became the focal point of Sturm Graz’s attack in the second half of the 2021-22 season, scoring nine goals in 17 starts for the Austrian side.

That scoring outburst grabbed the attention of Atalanta. They paid Sturm Graz £15 million to acquire Hojlund’s services before the start of the 2022-23 season.

That was money well spent for the Italian side as he developed into one of the best young strikers in the world.

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He scored nine goals in 32 Serie A appearances for Atalanta last season.

Hojlund also excelled on the international stage. He powered the Danes in two European Championship qualifiers last March, scoring a total of five goals, including a stunning hat-trick against Finland.

Haaland’s career before City move

Haaland started his football career with a youth spell at his hometown club Bryne. He made a total of 16 senior appearances for Bryne before joining Norwegian side Molde on February 1, 2017.

There was a period of adjustment for Haaland, who scored just four goals in 20 appearances during his first season with Molde.

He stepped it up a notch the following season, netting 16 goals in 30 matches across all competitions for Molde. He finished the 2018-19 campaign as their leading goalscorer.

Austrian Bundesliga champs Red Bull Salzburg decided to move for Haaland, announcing on August 19, 2018, that he would be joining their club on January 1, 2019, on a five-year contract.

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He was a lethal scorer for the Austrian side, bagging a total of 29 goals for the club.

The bulk of those came in the 2019-20 season- he scored 28 goals in 22 appearances.

Just like Hojlund, Haaland signed for a club in one of Europe’s top five leagues at the age of 19.

Borussia Dortmund confirmed the transfer of the Norwegian striker on December 29, 2019, with Haaland signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with them.

He started his German Bundesliga career with a bang, netting a hat-trick on his debut for Dortmund. He accomplished that feat as a substitute, scoring three goals in just 23 minutes, according to Bundesliga.com.

He scored 16 goals in 18 appearances for Dortmund during the 2019-20 season.

He was unstoppable in the 2020-21 season as well, scoring 41 goals in 41 appearances for the German club.

His scoring slowed down somewhat in his final season for Dortmund. He netted 29 goals in 30 appearances during the 2021-22 campaign.

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Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 appearances for Dortmund before joining Manchester City in 2022.

Ten Hag downplays United's chances

Sports Brief also reported on Erik ten Hag making a brutal assessment regarding United's chances of winning the Premier League.

The Red Devils have lost each of their last three preseason games.

The United manager said that only Manchester City can dream of winning the Premier League given their recent success.