Ten Hag could pay a heavy price for his Man Utd transfer gambles

With seven goals in six games Rasmus Hojlund helped United’s struggles in front of goal but will now miss up to three weeks through injury

Erik ten Hag was in no mood to admit on Friday that he may have erred by opting to sign just one striker last summer when Manchester United’s chronic lack of goals and shortage of quality options in attack had been glaringly apparent the previous season.
But the potentially damaging loss of Rasmus Hojlund for up to three weeks with a muscle injury is likely to put that decision under greater scrutiny as United look to navigate the coming games and their continued push for Champions League qualification without their top scorer.
Ten Hag explained on Friday how he “really tried” to sign a striker last month after Anthony Martial’s latest injury had left United “vulnerable” in the centre-forward position.
Yet what is surprising is that the Dutchman did not think United were already exposed in attack heading into a critical second season and, even now, with his team the lowest scorers in the Premier League’s top 10, scrambling to finish in the top four and deprived of Hojlund’s services, refutes any notion that he may have got his transfer priorities mixed up.
Ten Hag suggested it was a question of “money” when pressed on this subject at a press conference to preview United’s game against Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, which would have stood to reason had the £72 million fee the club committed to sign Hojlund from Atalanta accounted for almost the entirety of their budget.
But Ten Hag opted to devote almost £70m of his kitty on two new midfielders – £60 million Mason Mount, who has made just four Premier League starts owing to injury, and the lesser spotted £8.6 million loan signing Sofyan Amrabat – when there were far more pressing needs upfront.
Had the centre-forward United already had on their books been of an even faintly reliable kind, the decision to go for Hojlund and Hojlund alone would have made more sense. Martial, though, has made fewer than 17 league starts on average in nine campaigns at Old Trafford and was never going to be someone Ten Hag could trust to stay fit and in form. He was given a clear indication of as much last season when the Frenchman played in just 29 of United’s 62 matches.
When challenged on this point on Friday, Ten Hag put up a defence of Martial that felt flimsy at best and, in many ways, encapsulated the lack of ruthlessness that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team are determined to change. “We had two strikers, I get that from Martial but he has done for us last season great things,” Ten Hag said. “So he is also high on payment [wages] in this club. So when you bring another one in, you strike him out.”
United may have been unable to offload Martial last summer, when he was injured again, and his £200,000 a week wages are a drain but that should not have come as a surprise to anyone at the club, or deterred them from pursuing another striker.
Ten Hag said this correspondent was “naive” for suggesting United’s indulgence of Martial was a mistake. But is it as naive as staking all your chips on a young striker to answer your goalscoring needs without a dependable, experienced alternative to also call upon?
Hojlund – who turned 21 only this month – had fewer than 90 senior games to his name when he signed, arrived with an injury and, by Ten Hag’s own admission, was going to need managing given the intensity of the Premier League.
The Dane has done a sterling job in tough circumstances, has shown clear signs of the rich potential he possesses and could develop into a world beater. But he only has seven league goals this season, all of which have arrived in his last six games, and for a team who were comfortably the lowest scorers of the top six last term that alone was never going to be enough.
He – and United moreover – needed someone to share that burden. Martial was never going to be that man and, despite Ten Hag’s efforts to paint Marcus Rashford as a third option at centre-forward, the England international has never looked at home through the middle.
Many fans will bemoan United at least not testing the water on Harry Kane but, even if they had failed to entice the England captain, it is curious there was not a more concerted effort to recruit another striker.
Maybe United will qualify for the Champions League and Ten Hag will do enough to convince Ratcliffe and company that he is worth keeping on but it would not be a surprise if he is ultimately left to rue last summer’s transfer decisions.