Rasmus Hojlund is already giving Manchester United what they wanted

After just 87 minutes worth of football, it is already becoming clearer why Manchester United identified Rasmus Hojlund as their ideal candidate to strengthen their forward line.

Though he has failed to get off the mark in each of his first two outings for the club, it would have been very different had it not been for a VAR call. The Danish international thought he had marked his full debut for United with a goal in Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford, only for VAR to rule that Marcus Rashford had carried the ball out of play in the build-up.

It meant the 20-year-old, snapped up from Atalanta last month for an initial fee of £64million, was denied his breakthrough moment. Nonetheless, his first Old Trafford outing, despite all of the ongoing unrest and concern at the club, was one filled with positivity.

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Surprisingly deployed in a traditional front-two alongside Rashford, Hojlund, who netted ten goals for Atalanta last season, led the line well, proving mobile and combative up until his withdrawal in the 64th minute. He was replaced by Anthony Martial, prompting a chorus of boos from the natives.

Those who booed were unimpressed by manager Erik ten Hag's decision to take the youngster off. Ten Hag, however, admitted after the game that it was a pre-planned move to manage Hojlund's ongoing recovery from injury.

He arrived at Old Trafford last month nursing a stress fracture in his back, which delayed his United debut. He has not completed a full 90 minutes since Denmark beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in June, and even then he was