Gary Neville praises Rasmus Hojlund’s debut for Manchester United but thinks he has a problem.

Gary Neville praises Rasmus Hojlund’s debut for Manchester United but thinks he has a problem.

Gary Neville praised Rasmus Hojlund’s ‘encouraging’ debut for Manchester United, but acknowledges the newcomer is struggling with the responsibility that lies on his young shoulders.

The 20-year-old summer transfer from Atalanta made his debut for the Red Devils after overcoming a back injury he had when he arrived in England.

Ultimately, it was far from a dream debut, as he came off the bench with the score tied at 1-1 at Arsenal, and Manchester United went on to lose the game 3-1 thanks to injury time goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus.

Gary Neville praises Rasmus Hojlund’s debut for Manchester United but thinks he has a problem.

However, the young Dane looked promising and undoubtedly added something different to United’s front three, which Neville praised but cautioned.

The Denmark international joins with high hopes, but with less than 100 first-team matches to his name, the most of which came for Sturm Graz and FC Copenhagen, he will need plenty of time to adjust.

‘Manchester United haven’t had a striker who can score. That’s the issue,’ Neville explained to Sky Sports. ‘Cristiano Ronaldo was not a classic targetman, and neither is [Anthony] Martial or [Marcus] Rashford. At least they have someone who seems like he’ll mess with folks and get his body in there. He’s a runner who’s aggressive.

‘The key for him is that he’s still learning the game. He’s only had a couple of seasons of top-flight experience, and we’re expecting him to be Erling Haaland. That is the issue.

‘Manchester United don’t have someone with experience to back him up. We’ve been following Martial at Manchester United for 9-10 years, and he’s not what Erik ten Hag wants. This boy had a lot of expectation on him and a high price tag, but it was a promising start.’

Ten Hag commended Hojlund for his initial performance, but also said he loved Martial’s performance, which was not particularly noteworthy.

‘I thought he performed really well, but I also thought Martial played well,’ Ten Hag remarked. ‘I believe Rasmus Hojlund had a significant impact on the game.’