Manchester United brought in four players for a fee this season, and between Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana, Mason Mount and Altay Bayındır, the Dane striker is by far the best (and most expensive) signing of them all. After initial struggles in the Premier League (but not in the Champions League), the former Atalanta striker (74 million euros) got into form and helped United play much better and win. But, after scoring eight goals in eight games, Hojlund got injured and is now up to five games out. United will face Fulham today with only one fit striker – Marcus Rashford.Bad news at Old Trafford: Hojlund faces three weeks outThe young forward is out of form and after all, he is not the typical striker (even sir Alex Ferguson said so), and as you can probably guess, Antony Martial is injured again. That brings us to the question: Why hasn’t United bought another striker in June? Erik ten Hag defended his decision, saying that they actually didn’t need one, even thou that isn’t true, as he realized he was wrong and tried to buy one in January, but was told that the club needs to apply FFP rules.“We were happy to bring Rasmus Hojlund in. We had two strikers. Martial has done great things for us last season. So he is also on high payment in this club. We should have expected more, that is the truth. But to bring in another striker, that means you rule Martial totally out at the start of the season. Then there is Marcus Rashford so actually we had three strikers in our squad. If you bring in a fourth, the prospects for the others will get short. So I thought – we thought – we had options. I wanted to bring in a striker in the winter but it was not possible. And we already had our problems with FFP in the summer” explained Ten Hag.In this season, De Bruyne has more assists than Bruno Fernandes and Martin Odegaard: 🇧🇪 Kevin De Bruyne▪️ 502 minutes ▪️ 8 goals 🇵🇹 Bruno Fernandes ▪️ 2.905 minutes ▪️ 7 assists 🇳🇴 Martin Odegaard ▪️ 2.610 minutes▪️ 6 assists Insane! pic.twitter.com/kH1blILRcq— Stats24 (@_Stats24) February 22, 2024 There is also another problem for United, apart from injuries – Bruno Fernandes. Without a doubt, the most skilful player in the team is currently in the middle of his worst crisis since arriving at Old Trafford. When the Portuguese arrived from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020, his numbers made him a revelation. He had eight goals and seven assists in his first 14 games. Now he’s struggling and without a goal in 13 matches. And with other strikers out of form or injured, the goals have to come from someone. So far, Garnacho and McTominay were those players, not the captain. Ten Hag can only hope that Fernandes will get his mojo back against the team he last scored a goal against Fulham. Bruno scored in London against the Cottagers on November 4 and that was his last goal contribution in the Premier League. ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUESaturday18:00: (1.58) Aston Villa (4.10) Nott.Forest (5.70)18:00: (1.57) Man.Utd. (4.10) Fulham (5.80)18:00: (2.05) Crystal Palace (3.50) Burnley (4.00)18:00: (1.85) Brighton (3.60) Everton (4.30)20:30: (8.00) Bournemouth (4.80) Man.City (1.45)23:00: (1.40) Arsenal (5.30) Newcastle (8.00)Sunday16:30: (1.48) Wolverhampton (4.40) Sheffield Utd (6.75)Monday23:00: (2.55) West Ham (3.35) Brentford (2.75)***odds are subject to change***
