Revived Rasmus Hojlund holds the key to Man Utd’s resurgence as £72m striker shows signs of returning to best form after injury woes

Erik ten Hag had talked about turning points a lot last season, but after his side came from behind to beat Brentford on Saturday, the Manchester United manager was careful not to set himself up for a fall.

He had been here many times before, including exactly one year before, after a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Bees. Within one month of declaring that the Scott McTominay late show “has to be a turning point and also a restart”, United were outclassed at home to Manchester City, embarrassed by an inexperienced Newcastle in the Carabao Cup and dealt a damaging Champions League defeat by Copenhagen.

So you could hardly blame the manager for curbing his enthusiasm after a first win in all competitions in five weeks.

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  ‘Hojlund is back’

  “No it is just a win,” Ten Hag said as he cast his mind back to the previous month before the international break, when United recorded their worst start to a Premier League season.

  “In the last block [of games] we didn’t win enough but we only lost one game… So the only thing we had to do was score goals, we were in good spots but were not clinical and determined enough,” he said. “What didn’t help was Rasmus Hojlund was injured at the start of the season, but now he is back.”

  He was right, Hojlund sure was back, crowning a fine individual performance against Brentford with an ice-cool dinked finish which proved to be the winner.

  It was Hojlund’s first Premier League goal of the season, but in only his second start after an untimely injury in pre-season delayed his campaign by two months. And his display offered United genuine hope that their miserable luck might just be about to turn.

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    ‘Annoying’ setbacks

    Hojlund’s time at United has been marked by long absences, and for the second season in a row he had to miss the start after injuring his hamstring in the first game of the pre-season tour against Arsenal, the same game in which star summer-signing Leny Yoro damaged his ankle ligaments.

    In his first campaign, Hojlund showed up with a back injury which meant he did not make his first start for the club until mid-September. He injured a muscle in mid-November against Luton, and then just when he was finding his feet in the league in February, scoring in five games in a row, his hamstring gave way, forcing him out for another four games.

    So it was little wonder that he described his latest setback, which came just days after meeting up with the United squad following Euro 2024, as “annoying”. Every time he has had an injury, Hojlund has taken a few weeks to get back into his old rhythm.

    He contributed little in the Red Devils’ turgid 0-0 draw at Aston Villa before the international break. But after playing twice for Denmark, he was back in business against Brentford, and not just because he got the winning goal.

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    ‘Gave us breath’

    He had combined well with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, who had a curious way of describing his fellow attacker’s performance.

    “I think the goal was the worst part of his performance because he held the ball very well and gave breath to the team,” said the Argentina international. Hojlund agreed, admitting he had spurned the physical side and concentrated on using the ball effectively.

    “It was just about trying to not fight too much with the defenders,” he explained. “I had a good situation where I spun him [Ethan Pinnock] and I kept trying to do that, focusing on getting the ball down to the feet, holding it and playing from there. It worked very well and I’m very pleased with the team’s and my own performance.”

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    ‘He will always score’

    Ten Hag focused on the simpler side of Hojlund’s game, and the ultimate reason United paid £72 million ($93m) to sign him from Atalanta two summers ago. “He will always score,” said the manager. “What is important is that he is keeping fit. He picked up so many injuries in the first season and when he stays fit, he will score goals because that is proved in his stats.”

    Hojlund finished his first campaign with 16 goals in all competitions, a reasonable tally considering his fitness problems and the fact he was acclimatising to his first season in England. But it still felt underwhelming given his high price and because it paled in comparison to the 44 goals scored by Harry Kane, United’s principal target that previous summer.

    The fact that the tally made Hojlund United’s top scorer last season was indicative of the team’s overall struggles in front of goal, and it was a reason why many pundits were calling on the club to sign another striker in the close season.

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    Measly record

    United did sign another forward in Joshua Zirkzee, but he always had the reputation of being a facilitator rather than a finisher. And since netting on his debut against Fulham, the Dutchman has failed to score in his last 10 games.

    Zirkzee’s arrival has done little to ease the goals burden on Hojlund, and after replacing the striker against Brentford he botched a glorious chance to put the game out of sight by taking a heavy touch.

    Hojlund’s long absence from the team can therefore help explain United’s shabby record in front of goal, which was summed up by the fact that, when the half-time whistle went on Saturday, Ten Hag’s side were the joint-lowest scoring team in the Premier League. Or that when Danny Welbeck struck for the fifth time this season to give Brighton the lead at Newcastle, he had as many goals as the entire United squad. Brentford forward Bryan Mbuemo had one more.

    Garnacho and Hojlund’s second-half strikes lifted United’s measly total and their vibrant performance after the break was one of United’s best spells under Ten Hag.

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    Turn chances into goals

    The challenge now is to keep it up, to follow this win with a victory against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League and then by beating West Ham on Sunday. Hojlund is central to those plans. United, after all, are not struggling to create chances.

    They had 23 shots on Saturday, 11 of which were on target. Brentford had just two on target. In the Premier League they are ranked fifth for shots on target per game, and ninth for overall shots. But in terms of the most important metric, goals scored, they are 16th, with just seven.

    They have drawn blanks in four of their eight league games. If they can keep creating at their current rate but get better at converting, then they will comfortably climb back up the table and join the race for the top four.

    Hojlund, then, holds the key to turning that high shot rate into goals, and to making the turning point they crave a reality rather than another empty promise.