Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has made it clear that Rasmus Hojlund needs a winger in the team to give him more opportunities to score.
The young Danish striker joined the Red Devils from Atalanta during the summer, arriving with the reputation of being one of the most exciting young players in Europe, even drawing comparisons to Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland.
However, Hojlund has not got going so far, with the 20-year-old failing to score a single Premier League goal in 12 appearances in the competition, though he’s done better with five in the Champions League so far.
Ferdinand feels the clear issue for Hojlund is the wingers he’s playing with, as they’re not focused enough on getting the ball into the box, with the likes of Antony certainly not playing well enough either.
There are numerous issues in this United side, so it would be unfair to pin all the blame on Hojlund, and Ferdinand believes signings like Michael Olise or Jacob Murphy would improve things for the Denmark international.
“If Man United had [Michael] Olise, Jack Harrison, [Dwight] McNeil at Everton, Jacob Murphy at Newcastle – any one of those four wingers, I reckon he [Hojlund] would have five or six goals by now,” Ferdinand told Vibe With Five.
“Why? Because they cross the ball. All four of those boys, their first thought is, get the ball, head down, either beat the full-back and cross or give me a yard and cross the ball. He needs service.”
It remains to be seen if MUFC will move for signings out wide this January, but there’s surely an argument to be made for bringing in an upgrade on Antony, while Jadon Sancho is now also completely out of the first-team picture.