Manchester United must remember Gary Neville point about Rasmus Hojlund and Erling Haaland

Rasmus Hojlund needed that. Manchester United needed it just as much.

The raw emotion inside Hojlund came bursting out when he (finally) opened his Premier League account with an important winner against top-four rivals Aston Villa on Wednesday night. It was a moment worth waiting for and United will hope their £72million signing is now ready to take the next step.

It has taken the 20-year-old Denmark prospect a long, long time to break that duck. Coming up to five months since his marquee arrival from Atalanta this summer, whichever way you look at things - be it 15 matches, 1,000 minutes or so on - his domestic tally did not make for happy reading.

ALSO READ: Hojlund defends United forwards after criticism

ALSO READ: United get major injury boost with Mount return

However, it only told half the story. Gary Neville and United match-goers saw through that outside noise and they might finally receive vindication for urging lingering doubters to keep faith with Hojlund.

"Manchester United have not had a striker they can hit," said ex-United captain Neville after watching the Denmark striker make his impressive belated debut for the club against Arsenal in early-December.

"[Cristiano] Ronaldo was not a classic targetman," added Neville. "[Anthony] Martial and [Marcus] Rashford certainly aren't, but it looks as though he will mess people about.

"The good thing is that he's still learning the game... He's only played a couple of seasons at top-level football, but people are expecting him to be an Erling Haaland for Manchester United. They don't have anyone with experience to help or back him up."

Neville raised two interesting points in his initial analysis. He was bang on at the time and Neville is still right in that