Man Utd star looked ‘so much’ like Kane, now he’s becoming the new Hojlund

Recruitment question marks littered the Glazer era at Manchester United, with a handful of summer windows, in particular, looking like defining moments in hindsight.

Take for example 2009, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez replaced by Gabriel Obertan, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen. Take 2013, a summer that began with new boss David Moyes chasing Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas, although the deadline day arrival of Marouane Fellaini proved to be the only senior addition.

While perhaps not as infamous as the two, the 2023 summer window also requires significant criticism in retrospect, with United failing to capitalize on what had been largely a positive debut season for Erik ten Hag, culminating in a third-place finish in the Premier League and Carabao Cup glory.

Talk was rife regarding the Dutchman’s interest in Harry Kane and Declan Rice, although the Red Devils ultimately turned to Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount instead, with Inter’s Andre Onana completing that trio of major additions.

At a time when United could very well have started under the former Ajax boss, these three deals have backfired to varying degrees.

Despite now being one of Ruben Amorim’s favorites, Mount scored just five times in 53 games during two injury-plagued years at Old Trafford. Onana, meanwhile, was loaned to Turkey, having made as many as five errors leading to a goal in the Europa League and First Division last season, according to Sofascore.

As for Hojlund, the 22-year-old is now Napoli’s new golden boy, even after scoring just 26 goals in 95 games for Manchester. Imagine if Kane had arrived instead…

Why United signed Hojlund over Kane

There was a feeling that if this had happened during the golden days of Sir Alex Ferguson, Kane would almost certainly have been snapped up by the legendary Scot, having repeatedly raided the elite for Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.

Almost a guarantee of goals, having become the all-time top scorer for Tottenham Hotspur and England, the playmaking striker would have become Ten Hag’s main target ahead of this 2023 window, with a new number nine a necessity at Old Trafford.

With just a year left on his contract, Kane – who had considered a move to Manchester City two years earlier – appeared to be accessible, although reports indicated United were reluctant to do business with the typically stubborn Daniel Levy.

There were reports which also claimed that Levy was unwilling to sell his prized possession to a top rival, with United’s then first team manager Benni McCarthy revealing that the club was reluctant to fork out £100million for a player in his 30s.

Frustratingly, Kane eventually joined Bayern Munich for a fee of around £86 million, while United turned to a player ten years his junior, spending an initial fee of £64 million for a 20-year-old Hojlund from Atalanta.

At the time, the promising Dane had scored just 27 club career goals at senior level, according to Transfermarkt, having since added just 30 more, during his time at Manchester and now Napoli.

For comparison, since leaving for Munich, Kane has already reached 103 goals for the Bundesliga side in just 106 games, becoming the fastest player this century to reach triple goals for a club in Europe’s top five leagues.

A mistake, it becomes clear, was made that summer. The problem is that the Red Devils have repeated it since.

Man Utd’s ‘new Kane’ is now another Hojlund

In defense of United’s hierarchy at the time, the club had seen a series of short-term veteran strikers come and go in previous years, namely Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with a longer-term solution perhaps required.

That said, the argument – which McCarthy also makes – would be that a more astute operator would have parachuted in a player like Hojlund to serve as a deputy or successor to an experienced striker like Kane, rather than putting unnecessary pressure on the youngster to solely carry the goal burden.

In a way, the club attempted to rectify this decision by signing Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna a year later, with the Dutchman joining the club in a £36.5million deal, having been named Serie A Young Player of the Year the previous season.

At the time, analyst Ben Mattinson suggested Zirkzee could be a “natural successor” to Kane at Bayern, with the 6ft 4in striker set to return to Munich.

Also described as “so similar” to the England skipper, United’s new man looked like an ideal alternative to Hojlund, playing as a self-proclaimed “nine and a half” rather than a true centre-forward.

The problem was, however, that Zirkzee clearly did not possess Kane’s clinical quality in front of goal, having in fact scored just 11 goals in Serie A in 2023/24 – just two more than Hojlund had achieved at Atalanta the previous year.

Unsurprisingly, just like the Dane, a player without a history of prolific goalscoring has not scored at such a prolific rate for United, finishing his debut campaign with just seven goals in all competitions – including just three in the league.

There is something of a cult hero vibe about the light-footed striker, having impressively withstood the jeers against Newcastle United, although on current evidence he is heading in the same direction as his former colleague.

Apparently getting the Kobbie Mainoo treatment under Amorim, after an injury-plagued summer, the 24-year-old has played just 82 minutes so far in 2025/26, without even starting a single Premier League match.

With rumors rife of a quick exit in January, and with Benjamin Sesko now the go-to man, Zirkzee looks set to follow Hojlund to last no more than two seasons at Old Trafford.

Like Napoli’s new star, United’s number 11 has failed to translate his Serie A form into English football, with earlier comparisons to Kane now somewhat forgotten amid his goal-shy tendencies.

There’s talent there, but as was the case with Hojlund, Amorim and co simply don’t have the time to wait for such potential to be realized.