Manchester United target Rasmus Hojlund is "super keen" on a move to the club as United prepare their "opening bid" for the Danish international, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
Is Rasmus Hojlund joining Manchester United?
After a brilliant season on the pitch for United, one that saw them reclaim their spot in the Champions League and secure yet another piece of silverware, the club are now enjoying a fantastic transfer window as well.
Despite the ongoing saga around the club's potential sale and all the distractions that come with it, the transfer business conducted by the Red Devils thus far has been impressive.
The first name through the doors was Chelsea's academy star Mason Mount, who joined for just £55m, and now it looks as if the £47m deal to sign Cameroon international Andre Onana from Inter Milan is almost complete as well.
With two imoirtant positions in the side sorted already, attention has shifted to the search for a new number nine, with Atalanta's exciting youngster Hojlund one of the potential targets.
The young Dane has been courting the interest of the Red Devils for quite some time and is himself "super keen" on the move. Still, previous reports suggesting that the club had made an official bid were premature, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
He explained the situation on his YouTube channel, saying:
"For Rasmus Hojlund, now for Manchester United, it's time to prepare the opening official bid. So, Man United are discussing internally about the opening bid for Hojlund.
"They never sent any official bid at the moment. They had some exchange with Atalanta through intermediaries to understand how much they wanted, and from what I'm told, it's something around €70m (£60m); then let's see if this is something to be negotiated in the next days or if Atalanta will remain firm on their position to ask for €70m (£60m), but this is the potential fee for Rasmus Hojlund.
Romano also explained the player's perspective on the transfer, adding: "From what I am told, the player is super keen on the move. Hojlund wants to try a top club experience. He was a United fan as a kid, so Hojlund is super keen on the move to Man United."
How does Rasmus Hojlund stack up to Marcus Rashford?
With the departure of Wout Weghorst and the unreliability of Anthony Martial's fitness, the player that would likely fill in as United's number nine next season should they not sign Hojlund is England international Marcus Rashford, so who is better?
From a goalscoring perspective, it looks very one-sided, at least at first glance.
Rashford ended last season's Premier League campaign with 17 goals, whereas his Danish counterpart concluded his Serie A season with nine.
However, with 2890 league minutes under his belt, Rashford scored a goal on average every 170 minutes, which isn't a million miles away from Hojlund's ratio of a goal every 204 minutes, thanks to his 1836 minutes of game time last year.
Their underlying numbers are a lot closer than their goalscoring might suggest as well, with FBref placing the Englishman on 0.48 expected goals per 90 last season, while the Atalanta dynamo sits on 0.47 also per 90.
The Copenhagen-born gem does have a slightly higher percentage of his shots hitting the target at 54.7% compared to Rashford's 45.4%.
While there is certainly some similarity between the two forwards, and United's poster boy could play another season as the side's number nine, the introduction of Hojlund would allow Rashford to play in his desired position on the wing, while giving the Danish prodigy the starting position he needs to fulfil the lofty expectations people already have for him.