Rasmus Hojlund has given a glowing review of his manager Erik ten Hag, showing the young striker has shut out the noise surrounding the Manchester United boss.
The 21-year-old striker arrived at United with plenty of pressure on his shoulders last summer, having signed for £72m from Atalanta. Hojlund’s high-profile move took a toll in the early part of the campaign, not scoring in the Premier League until Boxing Day, but Ten Hag kept faith in the Denmark international, who ended the season with 16 goals in all competitions.
The Dutch coach came under fire after guiding United to eighth in the table, their lowest league finish since 1989. However, when quizzed about Ten Hag, Hojlund repaid the faith shown in him by his manager by giving a different perspective and expressing his delight that the Dutchman will be sticking around for next season.
After Denmark’s elimination from Euro 2024 at the weekend, Hojlund’s attention was quickly turned back to club football. Asked about Ten Hag keeping his job, the forward replied: “Very happy. He’s a very good coach and I’ve loved working with him this year."
Hojlund's comments showed his loyalty to his boss and that he is confident Ten Hag is the right man for the job despite the constant noise around his future.
The boyhood United fan will hope to build on his promising debut campaign, helping to push the club back up the league table. In terms of his ambitions for next season, Hojlund said: "I want to become even better and score even more goals. Hopefully, we can win another trophy."
Despite Hojlund’s praise for Ten Hag, United were set to start next season with a new manager until their surprise win over local rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final. United’s victory at Wembley ultimately saved Ten Hag’s job, though it took more than a fortnight for the club to confirm their decision, following an end-of-season review.
The footballing decisions at Old Trafford are now overseen by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group, who held talks with several managers about possibly replacing the Dutch coach. Ten Hag qualified for the Champions League and won the Carabao Cup in his first year in charge at United but looked to have fallen way short of those standards until the FA Cup helped redress the balance.
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When asked about United’s decision to stand by their manager, Ratcliffe said: "Erik? Because he’s a good coach. He was very good at Ajax."
Speaking about the club’s relative underachievement since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, Ratcliffe added: “You can’t prescribe the root of the problem to the coach. It’s the environment they’re working in. That’s where we are putting our efforts — the management, the practices, the quality of the people, all those types of things that we have to address at Manchester United — which is what we would do in [any] business."
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