Rasmus Hojlund has had an up-and-down first season at Man Utd (Picture: Getty)
Gary Neville has admitted he feels sorry for Rasmus Hojlund who he claims has an ‘impossible job’ leading the line for Manchester United.
Hojlund came off the bench to score for a second successive game as United brought the curtain down on a tough Premier League campaign with a 2-0 away win over Brighton.
The Dane, who United signed from Atalanta for £72million last July, ended the campaign with 16 goals in all competitions but has struggled at points during his maiden year at Old Trafford.
The 21-year-old enjoyed a rich vein of form in the middle of the season but otherwise proved profligate in front of goal for a United side that struggled with injuries and inconsistency.
Neville, though, has not laid the blame at Hojlund’s door and instead suggested that United’s constant chopping and changing and lack of a clear plan has hindered the striker more than his own abilities.
‘Watching Hojlund, I felt sorry for him. You talk about the difficulty United have had putting out a consistent back four this season. But it’s the same up front,’ the Sky Sports commentator said in The Overlap’s newsletter.
‘Hojlund doesn’t know what the pattern of play is, whether the wide player is going to go to the line or come inside.
Rasmus Hojlund scored ten Premier League goals this season (Picture: Getty)
‘You can see he’s making good runs all the time and then the wide man will come back inside and there will be a 15-pass sequence.
‘Another time he’ll drop in and try to join in with that and that will inevitably be the time the wide man decides to get to the line and cross it.
‘Until United can establish a consistent pattern of play, being centre forward in that team will be an impossible job.’
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Jamie Carragher is another who has expressed similar sympathies for the young striker and suggested that Hojlund may have regretted his move to Old Trafford so early in his career.
‘I feel a bit sorry for Hojlund, he’s a young lad, the jump he has made is probably a bit too much for him to start with,’ he said earlier this month.
‘He should have gone somewhere else for two years then to United maybe. I just feel sorry for him.’
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