Erling Haaland summons inner Roy Keane with honest verdict on Man Utd’s Rasmus Hojlund

When evaluating Rasmus Hojlund’s debut for Manchester United, Erling Haaland channeled Roy Keane.

Rasmus Hojlund’s progress since settling into England has been lauded by Erling Haaland, who also emphasized that scoring goals is Hojlund’s job description. Erik ten Hag will be patiently waiting for his starting forward to recover from the unfortunate injury that ended his undefeated scoring run.

In his first fourteen Premier League appearances after completing a sensational £72 million transfer to Old Trafford in the summer, Hojlund struggled to find the back of the net.

But in the six games that followed, the 21-year-old scored seven goals, including an early brace in last month’s 2-1 victory at Luton Town, making him the youngest player in Premier League history to score in six straight games.

In his last eight games across all competitions, Hojlund has finally shown his immense potential, scoring eight goals and assisting on two more.

He missed Fulham, Nottingham Forest, and Manchester City due to an injury he sustained in the Luton match, and he will likely not play in Saturday’s match against Everton either.

Haaland capped off Sunday’s derby at the Etihad Stadium with his 80th goal in 84 games, giving the hosts a 3-1 victory and adding insult to injury for United.

Rasmus Hojlund is on fire for Man Utd. (Image: Getty)

Haaland said that the Danish international must keep scoring goals before Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 match against Hojlund’s previous club FC Copenhagen.

His beginning was challenging, but he eventually improved. He was very good when we played him.

“He’s a good player, he has to keep on developing and as a striker for Manchester United he has to score goals as well, that’s his job.”

For United, legend Roy Keane is a standard-setter. Much to his colleagues’ amusement, he frequently instructs players to “do their jobs” while appearing as a pundit on Sky Sports.

Erling Haaland says scoring goals is Rasmus Hojlund’s job. (Image: Getty)

With Haaland’s encouraging but demanding evaluation of Hojlund’s tenure at United thus far, he would have surely agreed.

The No. 11 for Manchester United has scored 13 goals so far this season across all competitions. He had five goals in six group games in the Champions League prior to his current scoring run.

Until Haaland in 2019, no player had scored in their first two Champions League games as young as Hojlund, who tied for first place in the group stage.

United failed to capitalise on his impressive run in Europe and ended up in last place in Group A, having won just once. If Ten Hag wants to compete next season, he will be vying for Hojlund’s services again.