£72m man backed to solve Man Utd's 'toothless' attack after slow start to new season
One Manchester United star is closing in on a return to action after suffering an injury in pre-season.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist has backed Rasmus Hojlund to make a major impact on the Manchester United attack when he returns from the thigh injury he suffered in pre-season.
The Denmark international was one of the Red Devils big money signings last summer when they paid around £65m to sign the striker from Serie A club Atalanta. The 21-year-old enjoyed a positive first season at Old Trafford as he scored 16 goals and provided two assists in 43 appearances in all competition and was part of the United side that lifted the FA Cup with a 2-1 win against arch rivals Manchester City in May. Although progress in the Carabao Cup and Champions League failed to come to fruition and Erik ten Hag’s men missed out on a place in this season’s Champions League, there were high hopes Hojlund could build on his first year at Old Trafford when the current season got underway.
However, a thigh and hamstring injury sustained in a pre-season friendly clash with Arsenal in the United States has meant the former Sturm Graz and FC Copenhagen frontman is yet to appear this season. His return is expected come to before the end of the month and Ten Hag remains hopefuly the striker could well feature in the away day at Crysal Palace on Saturday week or the home game against Tottenham Hotspur eight days later. Former Rangers and Scotland striker McCoist is looking forward to seeing Hojlund back in action and believes the striker will have ‘a big responsibility’ to give his side some consistent attacking threat as they look to deliver major silverware for the third consecutive season.
He told talkSPORT: “Rasmus Hojlund coming back from injury is going to be massive for Manchester United. They look toothless going forwards at the moment. They play some nice football on occasion, but there’s no real cutting edge and they don’t have a proper goalscorer in the box to attack crosses and through balls. Even when they beat Fulham there appeared to be a lack of presence in the area. I thought Hojlund had a good first season at the club considering he came in from a different league, but he has to step up again and bring the goals United are crying out for. The first few games of the season have shown exactly what United are missing. It’ll be a big responsibility for him, but we’ll see how everything plays out.”