Pace to burn and copying Cristiano Ronaldo - Inside Rasmus Hojlund’s Atalanta rise

Rasmus Hojlund is Erik ten Hag’s answer to Manchester United’s striker problem and time will tell if his £72m gamble pays off.

At 20-years-old, the Denmark striker will be afforded more time than those more advanced in years but he will still be expected to deliver under the stage lights of the Theatre of Dreams. Fortunately, Ten Hag has banked enough trust for Hojlund to be given breathing space.

He is only seven months older than Alejandro Garnacho but there will be far more weight on his shoulders. But, fans ought to expect a bedding-in period.

“It is certainly an investment for the future,” says Tuttomercato correspondent Gaetano Mocciaro. “In Italy he has shown that he knows how to adapt very quickly to a different kind of football, in a team that has well-defined mechanisms.

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“He is an intelligent and determined player, if he can handle the pressure he can be a decisive player in the years to come [but] I don't expect him to right away.

“I don't expect him to solve Manchester United's problems, I don't expect an immediate and brutal impact like Erling Haaland at Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, so to speak.”

Euan Burns of Total Italian Football adds: “He is a really, really exciting striker, but he is still a raw talent. The types of goals that he has scored in Serie A involved him using superb pace and an ability to hold defenders off whilst trying to get a shot away, and those traits could translate well to the Premier League. It would probably be healthy for fans to view this move as somewhere between an immediate impact and one for the future.”

Hojlund - pronounced ‘Hoy-lun’, by the way - scored 16 goals last season, of