Pre-agreed Man Utd transfer expected to complete despite alarming drop-off

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·28 November 2025

Pre-agreed Man Utd transfer expected to complete despite alarming drop-off

A pre-agreed Manchester United transfer is still expected to cross the line despite new concerns the player in question might struggle in the future.

Man Utd can look forward to banking a handy sum next summer for a player who in truth, never looked capable of handling Premier League football.

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The Red Devils signed Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta for £64m prior to add-ons. After two underwhelming campaigns at Old Trafford, Hojlund was loaned back to Italy via Serie A champions Napoli.

The Dane’s deal contains a two-pronged conditional obligation to buy. Firstly, Napoli must qualify for next year’s Champions League.

While Antonio Conte’s side aren’t dominating Serie A this term, they do currently sit a healthy third in the table.

Furthermore, Hojlund must hit an appearance target to trigger the conditional obligation. Precisely how many appearances he must make isn’t yet clear, though in the absence of Romelu Lukaku who is missing with a thigh injury, Hojlund has been playing regularly.

And according to the latest from The Athletic, the expectation is Hojlund will become a Napoli player outright in the summer – despite fresh concerns over his potency.

Hojlund started life brightly at Napoli and benefitted greatly from the summer signing of Kevin De Bruyne.

The former Man City ace is one of the greatest playmakers of all time and instantly set Hojlund on the right path, helping the striker score four goals in his first six games.

But since De Bruyne suffered a serious hamstring injury, Hojlund has not scored in his subsequent six matches.

And given De Bruyne is 34 and spending more and more time on the treatment table, Napoli may have got a true view on Hojlund’s limitations when not playing alongside an all-time great like De Bruyne, who clearly won’t be around for the long haul.

Nevertheless, The Athletic stated Napoli remain ‘happy’ with the Dane and the expectation is his €44m / £38m transfer will go through.

The report read: ‘Hojlund hit the ground running at Napoli. He scored within 14 minutes of his debut, a 3-1 win away to Fiorentina, and has generally helped the Italian champions fill the void left by the injured Romelu Lukaku.

‘However, he has only found the net for Napoli three times since and has been missing Kevin De Bruyne’s ability to release him into space.

‘He has scored five goals in four games for Denmark but knocks picked up on international duty have also hindered his progress. But, generally, Napoli are happy with Hojlund. Even in the 2-0 defeat to Bologna in November, Antonio Conte singled him out for praise.’