Rasmus Hojlund has dismissed claims from a recent article suggesting that his Manchester United colleagues are skeptical of his talent and hesitant to pass the ball to him, labeling such assertions as baseless.
Manchester United invested a hefty £72 million to secure Hojlund’s transfer from Atalanta, but it wasn’t until Boxing Day that he marked his first goal in the Premier League.
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Following that, he netted six goals in five matches, yet experienced a dry spell starting in late February, managing just one goal until the season’s penultimate week. However, he ended on a high note, scoring consecutively against Newcastle and Brighton.
Contrary to the Manchester Evening News report earlier this month, which suggested a lack of confidence in the 21-year-old striker among his peers, who reportedly looked for other attacking avenues, Hojlund has refuted such notions.
He insists that he receives ample support from his teammates and believes he has adapted to the Premier League’s pace and style after an initially challenging period.
When asked directly about the article, Hojlund told Danish Publication Tipsbladet last week: ‘I do not understand such an article.
‘I feel like I get the ball if I’m in the right positions. I would have liked to get the ball a bit more sometimes, but that’s just not always possible.
‘This is, again, an example of something I have to shut out because it’s just a lot of noise.’
He added: ‘You have to filter out the stories because 90-95 per cent of them are nonsense. I had to learn to sort through them, because there’s not much else I can do other than put them on ice.’
On how his first campaign at United has gone, he added: ‘It took me some time to get started in the Premier League, but I think I have come on really well since then. I feel I have found my rhythm.
‘It was frustrating leading up to my first goal in the Premier League because I felt there was a lot of focus on it and more energy could have been spent on the fact that I was top scorer in the Champions League [at the time].
‘But, of course, I agree it is not very impressive to go 14 Premier League games without scoring your first goal, but I felt I had some bad luck in the league games. Fortunately, it got better.
‘When I scored against Aston Villa, I felt like the curse had been lifted a bit. It was a good day because I scored my first goal and we beat a really good team.’
On Denmark’s upcoming Euros campaign, Hojlund said: ‘It’s going to be insanely cool.
‘I was close to making it last time [for the World Cup in Qatar] but I stumbled right at the finish line. I’m really looking forward to it – now we’ll first have to see if I get selected.’
