Ruben Amorim praises Rasmus Hojlund after Manchester United beat Real Sociedad | OneFootball

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has praised Rasmus Hojlund after the Red Devils won in the UEFA Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday evening.

Amorim’s Man United, who are set to miss out on Geovany Quenda to Chelsea, beat Real Sociedad 4-1 at Old Trafford in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie.

Bruno Fernandes was the start of the show for Man United, as the Portuguese attacking midfielder scored a hat-trick.

Diogo Dalot scored the fourth goal for the Premier League club, who won the two-legged affair 5-2 on aggregate.

Hojlund led the line for Man United in a 3-4-2-1 formation and provided the assist for Dalot’s goal.

After the match, Man United manager Amorim praised the £64 million (Sky Sports) Denmark international striker and admitted that the 22-year-old is not looking very confident because he needs a goal.

The Portuguese boss, though, did praise the former Atalanta striker for his work-rate and also hailed Fernandes.

Amorim told Man Utd’s official website about Hojlund: “Rasmus needs a goal, for example, but the work he put in today.

“Because we play with the two no.10s, we need one player to push the team to make the runs. And he’s doing that. He is helping a lot, the team is better in connection.

“Today, he did some three or four connections that can allow us to change the side of the game. I think he deserved this kind of moment [the assist for Dalot] to feel that.

“Every striker wants to score goals and we are going to help him score. He’s so anxious, you can see it. But Josh, everybody, Nous did it. All the team played really well today.”

Amorim said about Fernandes: “He’s always there and the guy that can play one game and then, suddenly, he will be ready to play in the different position.

“He can [do] set-pieces, he can score penalties with a high pressure. He can make transitions in the last 15 minutes of the game, with a lot of games, so it’s perfect for us. And we need to help him to win titles.”

View: Manchester United need a better striker than Rasmus Hojlund

While Hojlund is still a very young and promising striker, he is not prolific and is far from the finished article.

The Denmark international striker does work hard, but one wonders whether he has the instinct and finishing ability to score enough goals.

Hojlund has scored 23 goals and given four assists in 81 matches in all competitions for Man United since his move from Atalanta in 2023.

That is simply not good enough. If the Red Devils are to return to their glory days, then they need a striker who can score 20 or more goals a season in the Premier League.

Unfortunately, Hojlund is not that striker.

The problem that Man United will face in trying to sign a top-quality striker in the summer transfer window is that not many numbers nines would be willing to move to Old Trafford given that the club are not in a position to challenge for major honours like the Premier League or play regularly in the UEFA Champions League.