Struggling Hojlund has better conversion rate but Amorim must fix dilemma

RASMUS HOJLUND has a better chance conversion rate than Erling Haaland and Mo Salah since debuting for Manchester United last year.

The forward, still only 21, joined the Red Devils for £72million in the summer of 2023, following a solitary season at Atalanta.

Hojlund arrived at Old Trafford with United desperate for a prolific striker.

And while he has shown signs of promise, he has only scored 18 goals in 55 appearances for the Red Devils, 11 coming in the Premier League.

Statistics show, however, that Hojlund is nowhere near solely to blame for his lack of goals.

In fact, since making his United debut, he is among the Premier League's deadliest finishers.

Hojlund has a conversion rate of 25.5 per cent, which puts him fourth in the Premier League over this period.

Only Chris Wood (30.9), Jean-Philippe Mateta (28.8) and Hwang Hee-chan (27.5) have better conversion rates in that time.

Manchester City goal-machine Erling Haaland is at 21.2 per cent, albeit on far higher volume.

While Liverpool's Mo Salah is on 18.3 per cent, again on far more attempts.

SunSport revealed last weekend that Man Utd scouts were in attendance to watch Ruben Amorim's former Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres in action for Sweden.

But with Amorim set to have to work with a reduced budget compared to his predecessor Erik ten Hag, he may have to prioritise getting more out of his current crop.

Speaking to the Telegraph, former Man Utd forward Dion Dublin pointed out that his old side don't put in enough quality crosses for Hojlund.

He said: "I still don’t agree with right-footers on the left and left-footers on the right.

"If you’re (Alejandro) Garnacho on the left or Antony playing on the right, all your crosses are going into the keeper – if you’re on the other side they’re coming away from the keeper and you have more room then to adjust as a centre-forward."

"You also get that reluctance to beat the man on the outside and if you are playing inverted you have an excuse to keep chopping back on to your good foot all the time, but there shouldn’t be any excuse to deliver end product."

The Telegraph also point out that Hojlund receives just 4.1 touches in the opposition box and 1.5 shots per game, compared to Haaland's tallies of 7.1 and 4.5.

Where United fans can hold hope, however, is with the work Amorim did with Gyokeres in Portugal.

The striker was already a good player ahead of the move, having banged goals in for Coventry.

But things went up another notch in Lisbon, with Gyokeres having netted an astonishing 66 times in 68 matches for Sporting.

Irrespective of United's transfer budget in upcoming windows, Hojlund will have an opportunity to prove that he can be the club's prolific No9, and that they don't need to fork out on Gyokeres or another star forward.

And United fans will hope that he can now embark on a rich vein of form, starting this Sunday as Amorim takes charge of his first game away at Ipswich.