Manchester United
Højlund Defends His Manchester United Record and Reflects on Pressure and Progress
Hojlund defends his Manchester United record and reflects on pressure, progress and goals. In Napoli
Rasmus Højlund has repeatedly been his own toughest critic, but he has also accepted the burden that comes with rapid advancement and high expectation. He moved from FC Copenhagen’s academy into senior football, spent six months skirting the first team before a spell at Sturm Graz, and after one season in Serie A with Atalanta he signed for Manchester United in 2023 at the age of 20.
He called the leap from reserve to United’s starting striker “a little bit surrealistic” at the time and now stands by the decision to make that jump. “You could argue I probably needed a year or whatever, but I feel like it was the right step for me,” he says. “And like I said, I think I did well in my first year, especially, where I became top scorer and in the team and had a good campaign in the Champions League and so on, and won a trophy with the guys.”
His debut Premier League season featured a slow start, with his first top-flight goal arriving on Boxing Day, but it was offset by a strong Champions League group stage in 2023–24 when he scored five times in six games. He also came off the bench in the second half of the 2024 FA Cup final, which United won against Manchester City.
“The pressure is big and and you learn from that,” Højlund sagely reflects. “You take that, you put that in your bag. And you just learn from it, get more used to it and grow with it.”
Statistic (All Comps)
Højlund Value
Squad Rank
Appearances 43 =5th
Starts 35 =5th
Goals 16 1st
Total Shots 57 6th
Assists 2 =9th
Stats via FBref.
Now with Napoli, who would be obliged to trigger a buy clause worth around £38 million should they qualify for the Champions League this season, Højlund stresses his commitment while remaining technically a Manchester United player. “All of them are more or less my friends,” he says. “So obviously I’m still watching them and wishing them good luck every time they play.”
He has already bettered his final Premier League campaign goal tally and is central to Napoli’s defence of their Serie A title. Under Antonio Conte he continues to push himself. “I think proving it for yourself it’s the most important one,” he says, “because if you prove it to yourself, I think you prove it to the rest of the world as well, because I got very high expectations for myself.
“I like to put the bar high, because then you push yourself as much as possible. Whereas if you reach a goal, like, let’s just say early in the season … then you would probably automatically lean back. Whereas if you focus in on I’m not saying the impossible but like try to hit, almost impossible…”
Barcelona
Barcelona Seeking Permanent Marcus Rashford Move as United Hold Firm
Barcelona want Rashford to remain after his loan; the club value him and might use creative finance.
Barcelona want to keep Marcus Rashford beyond the end of his current loan, according to recent reports, with the club exploring options to register him for the 2026–27 season. Rashford has become a meaningful contributor this term, the first male England international to play for Barcelona since Gary Lineker in the 1980s, and has recorded seven goals and eight assists across all competitions. Only two team-mates, Lamine Yamal and Fermín López, have produced better returns.
The forward initially benefited from injuries within Barcelona’s frontline but is not an automatic starter when the squad is fully available. He was among the substitutes when Hansi Flick’s side thumped Athletic Club in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final, and he was not expected to be included from the first whistle in Sunday’s final against Real Madrid.
Reports say the loan contains a release clause of €30 million (£26 million, $34.9 million). The coverage does not explicitly state Barcelona will trigger that clause, only that the club want Rashford on the books beyond this season. How Barcelona proceed may involve negotiation over price or further temporary measures given their strict financial constraints. As Flick put it: “The truth is, the club can’t pay hundreds of millions for a new player, like other teams, so we have to be smart with our players.”
Rashford’s preference to remain in Spain is clear. “Of course, what I want is to stay at Barça.”
At Manchester United, attitudes appear unchanged despite changes in coaching personnel. Amorim may have been the one to drop Rashford before the first Manchester derby of the 2024–25 season and never give him another minute for United. He is also reported to have said he would rather name his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital on the bench instead of Rashford, and Rashford was banned from United’s training ground until the coach had left for the day during the summer window. The Athletic claims that “United as a club” shared the coach’s desire for “more application” from Rashford.
Barcelona’s apparent interest and the player’s own wishes create a negotiated path that both clubs will need to navigate before the loan expires in June.
Chelsea
Rosenior sets youth target, invokes United’s Class of ’92 as blueprint
Rosenior compares his young Chelsea side to United’s Class of ’92 and calls for bravery and balance.
Liam Rosenior has framed Chelsea’s current crop as a long-term project modelled on Manchester United’s 1990s youth revolution. He invoked the Class of ’92 era as an example of what sustained faith in young players can deliver and argued the club must be equally daring if it is to replicate that success.
“I was a Manchester United fan and I am now massively a Chelsea fan,” Rosenior revealed. “I remember Sir Alex Ferguson was brave enough to put six or seven players aged between 19 and 21 into a title-winning team because he believed in them.
“They grew and won trophy after trophy. It was an amazing period in that club’s history. Without that bravery, it doesn’t happen. There is potential for that here.”
The piece recalled Ferguson’s summer of 1995 decision to rely on academy graduates after losing the title to Blackburn Rovers. Paul Scholes (20), David Beckham (20), Nicky Butt (20), Gary (20) and Phil Neville (18) all featured in the opening game of 1995–96, with Ryan Giggs then 21 completing the youthful half-dozen.
Yet Rosenior also highlighted the quality already in the squad. “Speak about Moisés Caicedo or Enzo Fernández or Cole Palmer or Reece James—world-class players and still very, very young,” Rosenior insisted. “That is the ultimate ambition for this club—to create that again.”
The article noted United’s average starting XI age of 25.5 in 1995–96, the second-youngest in the division, compared with Chelsea’s current average of 24.7 and a relative lack of senior figures. Enzo Maresca had warned in December that experience is crucial: “When you have 20 and 21-year-olds and a player who is 30 or 31, and he starts to say something to them, it’s invaluable,” the Italian boss explained in December. “But it’s the strategy of the club,” he sighed. Less than two weeks later, he was gone.
Tosin Adarabioyo, who turned 28 in September, is the oldest player in Chelsea’s Premier League squad, which includes 12 players aged 21 or under. The club have not spent on a player over the age of 25 since co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley were appointed in 2022.
The debate over youth versus experience has a long memory. Alan Hansen declared: “You can’t win anything with kids.” Gary Neville reflected the same reality: “I’ve said many times that Alan Hansen was right, you don’t win anything with kids,” Neville told Sky Sports back in 2019. “The Class of ’92 didn’t win that Premier League title. We had Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Brian McClair and Peter Schmeichel. We had world-class performers and two of the best centre backs ever. Keane was the most inspirational captain and leader, Cantona was world-class, Schmeichel was the best in the world and Dennis Irwin was brilliant.
“They pulled us through it.”
Manchester United
Mbeumo Available for Manchester Derby After Cameroon Exit
Bryan Mbeumo is set to be available for next Saturday’s Manchester derby after Cameroon’s AFCON loss.
Manchester United are set to welcome Bryan Mbeumo back for next Saturday’s derby at Old Trafford after Cameroon’s 2–0 quarterfinal defeat to Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The setback for Cameroon means United regain the services of their summer signing. Mbeumo has not featured since the 4–4 draw with Bournemouth in mid-December yet still leads the squad for goals, xG, shots on target and touches in the penalty area. He also serves as one of the team’s chief creators and routinely hauls the gravity of the squad forward with his repeated surges upfield.
United have shuttled through interim solutions while Mbeumo has been away. Darren Fletcher was an emergency interim option, but the club could have another caretaker in place by the time the forward returns. Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Michael Carrick are the two leading contenders and both will surely be grateful to have Mbeumo back available.
The Red Devils managed just one win in their first five games without their top scorer, failing to beat three sides currently slumped among the Premier League’s bottom five. Patrick Dorgu was asked into a more attacking role and scored his first goal for the club while also providing two assists. Matheus Cunha doubled his season tally with strikes against Aston Villa and Leeds United, but neither result produced victories.
Brighton & Hove Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler was succinct in his assessment of the £65 million ($87.2 million) move from Brentford: “Money well invested.”
United will not be at full strength in other respects. Noussair Mazraoui, who played the full 90 minutes of Morocco’s 2–0 win over Cameroon, will be unavailable until the trip to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 25. Morocco denied Cameroon a single shot on target in that game, although Mbeumo did have a strong penalty appeal waved away.
Amad Diallo remains involved in the tournament as the third and final Manchester United player at AFCON. Only Morocco’s Real Madrid forward Brahim Díaz has outscored Ivory Coast’s versatile wideman this winter, and Díaz will face Mohamed Salah’s Egypt in Saturday’s last quarterfinal with the chance to extend his three-goal tally.
