Query marks over recruitment have littered the Glazer period at Manchester United, with a handful of summer time home windows, specifically, wanting like defining moments in hindsight.
Take 2009, as an illustration, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez changed with Gabriel Obertan, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen. Take 2013, a summer time that started with new boss David Moyes chasing the likes of Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas, albeit with the deadline day arrival of Marouane Fellaini proving to be the one senior addition.
Whereas maybe not fairly as notorious as each of these, the 2023 summer time window additionally requires important critique looking back, with United failing to capitalise on what had largely been a constructive first season for Erik ten Hag, culminating in a third-place Premier League end and Carabao Cup glory.
Discuss was rife relating to the Dutchman’s curiosity within the likes of Harry Kane and Declan Rice, though the Purple Devils finally turned to Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount as a substitute, with Inter’s Andre Onana finishing that trio of main marquee additions.
At a time when United might nicely have kicked on below the ex-Ajax boss, all three of these offers backfired to differing levels.
Whereas now a agency favorite of Ruben Amorim, Mount has scored simply 5 instances in 53 video games throughout an injury-hit two years at Outdated Trafford. Onana, in the meantime, has been shipped out on mortgage to Turkey, having made as many as 5 errors resulting in a objective within the Europa League and top-flight alone final time period, as per Sofascore.
As for Hojlund, the 22-year-old is now the brand new golden boy of Napoli, albeit after scoring simply 26 objectives in 95 video games in Manchester. Simply think about if Kane had arrived as a substitute…
Why United signed Hojlund over Kane
There was a sense that had it been through the golden days of Sir Alex Ferguson, Kane would have nearly actually been snapped up by the legendary Scotsman, having repeatedly raided the top-flight for the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.
Virtually a assure of objectives, having turn into the all-time prime scorer for each Tottenham Hotspur and England, the playmaking striker had reportedly emerged as Ten Hag’s prime goal forward of that 2023 window, with a brand new quantity 9 a necessity at Outdated Trafford.
With only a yr left on his contract, Kane – who had angled for a transfer to Manchester Metropolis two years earlier – gave the impression to be gettable, albeit with stories indicating that United have been cautious of doing enterprise with the sometimes cussed Daniel Levy.
There have been stories which additionally claimed that Levy was unwilling to promote his prized possession to a top-flight rival, with then-United first-team coach Benni McCarthy since revealing that the membership have been hesitant to fork out £100m for a participant in his 30s.
“Kane was the prime goal, however clearly the worth tag was a difficulty,” McCarthy mentioned in 2024. “As a result of he would have been leaving Spurs for United, just a few further million kilos have been added on to the worth tag, which, you already know, for a 30-year-old wasn’t seen to be sensible.”
Frustratingly, Kane finally moved on to Bayern Munich for a charge of round £86m, whereas United turned to a participant ten years his junior, forking out an preliminary £64m on a 20-year-old Hojlund from Atalanta.
On the time, the promising Dane had scored simply 27 membership profession objectives at senior stage, as per Transfermarkt, having since solely added an extra 30, throughout his time in Manchester and now in Naples.
For comparability, since departing for Munich, Kane has already reached 103 objectives for the Bundesliga facet in simply 106 video games, changing into the quickest participant this century to succeed in triple figures for a membership in Europe’s prime 5 leagues.
A mistake, as is obvious, was made that summer time. The issue is, the Purple Devils have since repeated it.
Man Utd’s ‘new Kane’ is now one other Hojlund
In defence of the United hierarchy on the time, the membership had witnessed a string of short-term, veteran strikers come and go within the years prior, specifically Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with a extra long-term resolution maybe wanted.
Hojlund (Serie A) vs Kane (Bundesliga) – 25/26 | ||
|---|---|---|
Stat (*per recreation) | Hojlund | Kane |
Video games | 4 | 6 |
Objectives | 2 | 11 |
Minutes per objective | 153 | 45 |
Huge possibilities missed | 1 | 3 |
Aim conversion | 50% | 52% |
Assists | 0 | 3 |
Huge possibilities created | 0 | 5 |
Key passes* | 0.5 | 2.2 |
Complete duels received* | 54% | 57% |
Stats by way of Sofascore | ||
That mentioned, the argument – which McCarthy additionally places ahead – can be {that a} extra canny operator would have parachuted in a participant like Hojlund with a purpose to function a deputy or successor to an skilled striker like Kane, slightly than heaping pointless stress on the teenager to solely carry the goalscoring burden.
“So that you suppose we must always have simply bitten the bullet and obtained Harry Kane after which additionally tried to spend money on Rasmus Hojlund. That might have been the perfect factor for Rasmus if he had had somebody like Harry Kane concerned.”
In a means, the membership did attempt to rectify that transfer by snapping up Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna a yr later, with the Dutchman becoming a member of on a £36.5m deal, having been named Serie A’s Younger Participant of the Yr the earlier season.
On the time, analyst Ben Mattinson had steered that Zirkzee may very well be a “pure successor” to Kane at Bayern, amid stories that the 6 foot 4 striker was in line to return to Munich.
Additionally described as “so comparable” to the England skipper, United’s new man appeared like a great different to Hojlund, working as a self-described ‘9 and a half’ slightly than an out-and-out centre-forward.
The issue was, nevertheless, that Zirkzee evidently did not possess the scientific high quality of Kane in entrance of objective, having really solely scored 11 Serie A objectives in 2023/24 – solely two greater than Hojlund achieved at Atalanta the yr prior.
Unsurprisingly, very similar to the Dane, a participant with no monitor report for scoring at a prolific fee has, nicely, not scored at anyplace close to a prolific fee for United, ending his debut marketing campaign with simply seven objectives in all competitions – simply three of which got here within the league.
There’s something of a cult hero vibe to the fleet-footed ahead, having impressively fought his means again from being jeered off towards Newcastle United, though on present proof, he’s heading the identical means as his former colleague.
Seemingly getting the Kobbie Mainoo remedy below Amorim, following an injury-hit summer time, the 24-year-old has featured for simply 82 minutes to date in 2025/26, failing to even begin a single Premier League recreation.
With rumours rife over a swift January exit, and with Benjamin Sesko now the go-to man, Zirkzee appears to be like set to comply with Hojlund in not lasting any longer than two seasons at Outdated Trafford.
Like the brand new Napoli star, United’s quantity 11 has been unable to translate his Serie A type into English soccer, with these prior Kane comparisons now considerably forgotten amid his goal-shy tendencies.
There’s a expertise in there, however as was the case with Hojlund, Amorim and co merely haven’t got the time to attend round for such potential to be realised.
