Rasmus Hojlund - who has signed for Manchester United - has been compared to Erling Haaland. With exclusive insight from those who have worked with the Atalanta striker, Adam Bate finds out why the Dane is described as a rock-star footballer and the total package...
Saturday 5 August 2023 13:39, UK
It is easy to assume that comparisons with Erling Haaland are neither warranted nor wanted but Rasmus Hojlund might be the exception. Denmark’s rock-star striker, labelled the total package, does not shy away from suggestions of a resemblance.
"I can see the similarities. He is fast. I am also fast. He is left-footed. I am also left-footed. He is strong and I am strong too." Hojlund might have added that they both have an easy confidence. It is set to see him join Haaland in Manchester next season.
Manchester United's desire to spend £72m on the striker underlines the rapid rise of a precocious talent who had yet to score his first league goal when he left Copenhagen for Sturm Graz in January of last year. He was there just seven months before being sold on to Atalanta.
Such was his impact in Austria that the club received a fee of €17m (£14.56m) - around ten times what they had paid. His subsequent success in Serie A means Atalanta could demand far more too. But what did Sturm Graz see in the man now touted as United's next superstar?
For sporting director Andreas Schicker, Hojlund is the template. "The idea here is to have success on the pitch with a team built around a few more experienced leaders who are surrounded by young, talented players who we want to develop," he tells Sky Sports.
"We get them ready for the next step, have success and make a profit. Rasmus is a very good example of it working perfectly. He came, he excelled, he helped us to achieve our goals, made a name for himself and moved to a bigger club in a bigger league.
"One of our strengths is that when we scout a player, we have a really clear and defined profile for every position. For a striker, we search for somebody with a lot of speed and depth in their game. We scouted Rasmus really early and saw he was a perfect fit.
"Another very important part was that we checked on his character early in the process, having video calls with him and his family. His mental strength was extremely impressive, especially for a player of that age - he was only 18 years old back then."
The man tasked with integrating him into the team, Sturm Graz head coach Christian Ilzer, echoes those sentiments about style. When Schicker talks of 'depth' he is referring to those line-breaking runs in behind the defence that Hojlund makes time and time again.
"We try to bring the strikers into the game as quickly as possible and to be as vertical as possible to hurt the opponents - that needs a lot of sprints and a lot of quick decisions from our strikers, and I think those are big strengths of Rasmus," Ilzer tells Sky Sports.
"I think it was key that our philosophy and style fitted his skillset perfectly so he came into a good environment. Ras was a great addition to our team with his abilities. It was his speed, his general physique and his willingness to work hard against the ball."
Ilzer was similarly impressed with his character, describing him as very open, friendly and funny - but it was more than that. This was a teenager moving abroad for the first time but from that first meeting during a training camp in Slovenia his confidence was clear.
"We had an extremely close look at Rasmus before we signed him, looking beyond the player, so I already had a clear vision of him as a person. But when he arrived in Catez, he still surprised me in a positive way in every aspect in terms of him as a person.
"He 'arrived' in the team extremely quickly because of his extrovert personality. There was a moment against Rapid Wien - this was only his second game with us - when he scored and celebrated his goal enthusiastically right in front of the Rapid supporters.
"I tried to make him understand that this was not the right way. But I also soon understood that he needs this big stage. He needs this 'extra'. Playing for and against the fans is not hindering him but pushing him to find that extra five per cent in his game.
"He has this great attitude and aura around him. A full stadium is not something that intimidates him, it pushes him. It does not matter if it is at home or in the opposition stadium. There is something inside him to be at 'one' with the fans and to excite them.
"It is like the pitch is a concert stage and he is a rock star, there to excite the crowd. He feels naturally comfortable on that stage. It is why he was an instant fan-favourite in his short time here and it is also why he is made for the biggest stages in football."
As well as that goal against Rapid, there were two more in a win over Red Bull Salzburg last August, a performance that alerted clubs around the continent. Schicker soon appreciated that the club's long-term vision for Hojlund was well ahead of schedule.
"Everybody saw that he was destined for bigger things," he says. "We helped to refine his profile as a player and the next step was impossible to hold off when he started so well last summer. With Atalanta, I think he found an excellent club for that next step."
His impact in Italy was similarly swift. Experienced coach Gian Piero Gasperini admitted that while he had anticipated Hojlund's running ability, the player's resilience, his willingness to continue making those penetrating runs, came as a surprise even to him.
There was a goal in his first Serie A start before Hojlund came into his own after the World Cup, scoring in four consecutive appearances. Five goals in two games for Denmark during the March international break further underlined his ever-improving game.
At the end of the season, he ranked among the top 10 players in Serie A for goals scored from open play, shots on target and touches inside the opposition penalty box per 90 minutes. Such form seems likely to fast-track him onto the next step at just 20.
The attraction for United is obvious. It is not just that he fills a void up front and not just that he is a United supporter. International team-mate Philip Billing has described him as a United player. He is born for the biggest stage and has the character to steal it.
"I am confident in his abilities and that he has a great future ahead of him at the highest level in Europe," adds Schicker. "His skills, with all his speed, power and quality in front of goal, as well as his mindset and personality, make him the total package as a striker."
