Rasmus Hojlund certainly hasn’t taken the Premier League by storm but there is, at least, one top-flight club who have seen first-hand what the much-maligned Manchester United striker is capable of.
In 62 top-flight games, the former Atalanta frontman has hit the target only 14 times.
Just four goals came during the entire 2024/25 campaign, Rasmus Hojlund’s season-long struggle encouraging Manchester United to step up their pursuit of various big-name, big-money centre-forwards.
Speculation this week suggests that Viktor Gyokeres could still be Old Trafford-bound.
While the Sporting CP talisman installed Arsenal as his favoured destination – Gyokeres is 27, wants to play Champions League football, and knows that this is maybe his only shot at a mega move – The Gunners appear to be fully focused on RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko instead.
As for the man Gyokeres would replace in Ruben Amorim’s attack, Inter Milan appear Rasmus Hojlund’s most likely destination even if reports suggest the Denmark international would happily join Napoli under Antonio Conte.
Former Premier League stalwart Stan Collymore, however, feels there is one club in England’s first division who should take a punt at trying to get Hojlund’s once-glittering reputation back on the right track.
Aston Villa.
Rasmus Hojlund during Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - UEFA Europa League Final 2025
Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images
Stan Collymore urges Aston Villa to rescue Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund
Two of Hojlund’s 14 league goals have come against Aston Villa.
More United News
He famously opened his Premier League account at the 16th time of asking with a volley Mark Hughes would have been proud of on Boxing Day 2023. Hojlund then channelled his inner-Ruud van Nistelrooy with an instinctive poacher’s finish during a 2-1 win at Villa Park a few months later.
And Collymore, an Aston Villa fan who spent three years at his boyhood club from 1997 to 2000, feels that Unai Emery would still have a lot to work with should a confidence-shot 22-year-old make the trip to Birmingham.
“Aston Villa could afford the transfer fee and wages,” Collymore tells Caught Offside as Man United tell interested parties to stump up £40 million for Hojlund.
“Man United will be looking to recoup money from him, and that could involve loaning him back to several clubs in Italy. But by doing this, he would never be settled. He’s still a very young man.
“I really like him as a striker, I think he’s got the basic attributes. But he went to Manchester United and it’s basically completely shattered his confidence. Rasmus Hojlund, as a young man in his early 20s, is aching for somebody to put their arm around him.
“This is the bit of the development process that you should have had. He should have gone to someone like Aston Villa first, scored you 25 goals and then gone to Manchester United two or three years down the line.”
Emi Martinez wants Man United move as Hojlund heads for Old Trafford exit
Collymore does have a point.
Having arrived at Old Trafford as a 20-year-old with only one season in a major European league under his belt, the pressure of leading the line for a club of Manchester United’s stature was always going to stretch even the self-assured Hojlund to his limits.
Aston Villa’s Financial Fair Play issues are well-known at this stage, though Collymore believes that there may be an arrangement there to be made if Man United are willing to drop their demands and accept an initial £25 million.
A £15 million discount feels unlikely, especially given that this is a direct Premier League rival we are talking about.
Perhaps, as goalkeeper Emi Martinez pleads for Manchester United, there may be a swap deal on the cards somewhere.
“In Aston Villa’s financial position, £25 million plus add-ons and a wage that would not be anywhere near breaking their high wage turnover would be favourable,” Collymore adds.
“I think that if Ollie Watkins were to go, they could do a lot worse than have a look at Rasmus Hojlund.”