Napoli star Kevin De Bruyne says Rasmus Hojlund has the potential to go on and grow to be a ‘top player’ despite his ‘difficult’ start at Manchester United.
Hojlund arrived in Manchester with weighty expectations on his shoulders after United struck a £72million cope with Atalanta for the striker back in 2023.
However the young centre-forward struggled to live to up his hefty price tag across his first two years at Old Trafford, despite the occasional flash of promise.
Hojlund’s disappointing return of just 4 goals in 26 Premier League appearances last season convinced United turn to the transfer marketplace for attacking reinforcements, with the club forking out around £200million on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko.
With Hojlund deemed surplus to requirements, the attacker’s camp got permission to seek advice from other clubs. Napoli were quick to make their interest known, occurring to sign the Denmark international on a season-long loan.
Following within the footsteps of Scott McTominay, Hojlund has enjoyed an attention-grabbing season in Naples and appears a player reborn.
The 23-year-old has scored 14 goals in 37 appearances for Napoli, finding the goal in big moments, each in Serie A and within the Champions League, while constructing a promising on-field partnership with De Bruyne.
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‘With Kevin you may have to take into consideration running, you already know that the suitable ball will come,’ Hojlund recently said of De Bruyne, who brought his illustrious decade-long spell with Manchester City to an end last summer.
When asked about Hojlund’s kind comments, De Bruyne told La Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘I try, but I don’t know… each time someone makes a move, I attempt to serve them. I even have to attempt to serve them.
‘In case you don’t give them the ball, they’ll stop making a move, and it might be worse for me too.
‘He [Hojlund] can grow to be a top player, he has great qualities.
‘He had a difficult time in Manchester, but now he’s doing thoroughly here.
‘He’s still young, he has loads of time ahead of him.’
The agreement that saw Hojlund move to Italy included an obligation to purchase should Napoli qualify for yr’s season’s Champions League. The club are currently well positioned to attain that, sitting third within the Serie A table.
But even when Napoli miss out on qualifying for Europe’s premier competition, their sporting director Giovanni Manna has suggested the club are very more likely to make Hojlund’s deal everlasting.
The everlasting fee agreed between United and Napoli is believed to be within the region of £38m.
‘Hojlund has been instrumental,’ Napoli chief Manna told the Italian media last month.
‘Even when he hasn’t scored, he’s all the time worked hard for the team.
‘We’ve got an obligation to purchase him outright if we qualify for the Champions League, but I don’t think his future lies removed from Napoli even when that doesn’t occur.’
Hojlund still has three years remaining on his current contract with United.
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