Any player daring to don the iconic red shirt of Manchester United will have to put up with his fair share of rumour-mongering and trouble-making.
One ofErik ten Hag‘s Old Trafford arrivals found that out himself a few weeks back.
And after reports emerged bizarrely suggesting that his Manchester United team-mates were reluctant to give him the ball in the final third, Rasmus Hojlund went about silencing the doubters in the only way he knows how.
Coming off the bench during last week’s 3-2 victory over Newcastle at Old Trafford, Hojlund collected a pass from Bruno Fernandes, shifted the ball into space and fizzed it past Martin Dubravka; another supposedly ‘weak-footed’ finish from a man who is making such strikes his trademark.
‘Just making sure the number on my back was visible’, was Hojlund’s less-than-subtle riposte to those eye-rolling rumours on Instagram.
Rasmus Hojlund has been a success at Manchester United
Given that this is his first season as a regular starter in a major club – arguably the most high-pressure club of them all too – Hojlund has taken all the negative stuff that comes with being a Manchester United player in his stride very impressively indeed.
“You have to sort through the stories, because 90 to 95 per cent are rubbish,” Hojlund now tells Tipsbladet, speaking to the Danish media ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final meeting with rivals Man City.
“I do not understand such an article, I feel like I get the ball if I’m in the right positions. I might have liked to get the ball a bit more once in a while, but it’s just not always possible. This is again an example of something I have to shut out because it’s just a lot of noise.”
The vast experience of fellow Dane Christian Eriksen in the Man United dressing room has been a big help for the 21-year-old centre-forward. After a decade at the top level, Eriksen knows a thing or two about ‘shutting out’ the noise.
The veteran playmaker’s presence has benefitted Hojlund on the pitch too, at times. It Eriksen’s his clever flick which helped set up the £64 million man’s 16th Man United goal in the 2-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion on the Premier League’s final day.
Hojlund loves playing alongside Christian Eriksen
“I have been happy to have shared my first season at Manchester United with Christian,” Hojlund adds, playing regularly alongside a man he has long since idolised from afar.
“He is special to me because he is the player he is, and I have always looked up to him. Being a team-mate with him in both Manchester United and the national team is, in a way, surreal for me.”
Saturday’s trip to Wembley may be the final time Eriksen and Hojlund are lining up alongside each other at club level. Eriksen, just one year left on his contract, is expected to follow fellow-30-something Raphael Varane out the door as the Ineos-driven exodus begins at Old Trafford.
A return to Ajax, where Eriksen really made his name prior to that 2013 switch to Tottenham, has been mooted by some back home.
“When I look at the possibilities and where he has come from and where he can do fantastically well for a few more years, then Ajax will be a fantastic place,” the iconic Michael Laudrup tells ViaPlay.
“I also know that Ajax have mentioned that they are interested. After his cardiac arrest (at the 2021 European Championships), he was in Amsterdam rehabilitating. He knows the city, he knows the language and he knows the club.
“They will almost receive him as a king returning home.”