Rasmus H\u00f8jlund began his Napoli career in emphatic fashion, scoring 14 minutes into his debut as the loan signing proved decisive in a 3\u20131 victory over Fiorentina. The Denmark international arrived on a deadline day loan from Manchester United for an initial fee of \u20ac6 million, with an obligatory purchase clause reported at \u20ac44 million in 2026 if Napoli qualify for the Champions League.<\/p>\n
After the match, Antonio Conte addressed the media and did not hide his amusement at the transfer chain that brought H\u00f8jlund to the Italian champions. “H\u00f8jlund is only 22. We signed him from Manchester United after seeing the luck [Scott] McTominay brought us,” Conte joked. The comment referenced Scott McTominay, who left Manchester United after 22 years with the club to join Napoli in August 2024.<\/p>\n
McTominay had been part of Manchester United\u2019s recent trophy haul, helping the club win two Carabao Cups, an FA Cup and the Europa League before his move. He quickly became an influential figure at Napoli and played a central role in their 2024\u201325 Serie A title. His performances at the Italian club earned him a nomination for the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n
H\u00f8jlund arrives with a different backstory. Signed by Manchester United for an initial \u20ac75 million, he scored 26 goals in 95 appearances for the English club but struggled to meet the expectations that accompanied his transfer. The switch to Napoli offers a fresh start under Conte and a new coach\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n
After his first game, H\u00f8jlund spoke about the early impressions with the manager and his mindset moving forward. “I\u2019ve only known [Conte] for three days, but he\u2019s a very direct coach, with whom I have a good rapport,” he said to DAZN. “I\u2019m still young and have a lot to learn. I\u2019ve struggled at times in some groups, but here I\u2019ve felt at ease straight away. It\u2019s been a great start.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
H\u00f8jlund scored on his Napoli debut and Conte joked about Manchester United supplying reinforcements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1028],"tags":[593,938],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-napoli","tag-ballon-dor","tag-deadline-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}