HOJ ABOUT THAT
Stats show Hojlund has adapted to Prem quicker than many legendary goalscorers
Only four foreign marksmen have got off to better starts in England's top-flight
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RASMUS Hojlund is the Prem’s leading scorer of 2024.
And after four months of being doubted and questioned, the Dane is starting to suggest Manchester United will end up thinking his purchase was £72million well spent.
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Hojlund’s quickfire double in the win at Luton was the sixth successive Prem game in which he has found the net, making him the youngest player - at 21 years and 14 days - to ever achieve that.
He has now scored six in five games since January 1, two more than any other player in the top flight.
Crucially for Erik ten Hag and his team, Hojlund’s goals have all come in games which United have either won or drawn, with the striker directly responsible for three match-winning strikes.
And the manner of his emergence from early season doubts suggests Hojlund has now adapted to the Prem - and arguably quicker than many of the League’s all-time greats did at the start of their careers in England.
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There are nine non-British Isles players in the top 25 of all-time Prem scorers, a list headed, of course, by Alan Shearer.
But of that group, only four - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Thierry Henry, Sergio Aguero and Sadio Mane - scored more goals in their first Prem season than Hojlund has now already managed in his debut campaign.
Hojlund’s slow start was not too far removed from Henry’s initial struggles at Arsenal.
It was not until his eighth Prem appearance for Arsene Wenger after arriving from Juventus that the French ace found the target for the first time, going on to become the seventh-highest scorer in the entire history of the League.
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Liverpool fans will doubtless point to the Golden Boot-winning 32 goals Mo Salah scored in his first season at Anfield in 2017-18.
But the Egyptian king managed just two in 10 games for Chelsea in his first Prem campaign under Jose Mourinho in 2013-14.
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Likewise, although Romelu Lukaku bagged 17 in 35 games on loan for West Brom in 2013-14, he had not scored a single goal in his first season at Chelsea following his arrival from Anderlecht.
And Spurs’ Korean superstar Son Heung-min, in the top five this season with 12 goals despite missing more than a month because of the Asian Cup, and who was the Prem’s top scorer in 2021-22, managed just four in 28 games in his first campaign in N17.
And while Erling Haaland set the Prem alight during his first season at Man City, scoring 36 goals in 35 appearances, he's not in the Premier League's top 25 all time goalscorers... Yet.
For many players arriving in the Premier League, the fuse takes a while to burn before the goal explosion comes.
United and Hojlund will be confident that the young Dane is now going to keep on blowing Prem defences up.
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