Much has changed in Rasmus Hojlund’s world since he emerged from Manchester United’s dressing-room at Soldier Field in Chicago at the end of July, an ice pack strapped to the back of his right leg, and asked us rhetorically: ‘Does anybody want to talk to me?’
Hojlund wanted to send a message when he spoke to a media scrum that night: he was determined to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford despite United’s pursuit of Benjamin Sesko, and was relishing the competition.
The Dane’s goal against Bournemouth on pre-season tour in Chicago was to be his last for the club, though.
A week later United agreed terms with RB Leipzig to sign Sesko for £73.7million, and a week after that Hojlund got the call from Napoli when Romelu Lukaku was ruled out for five months after sustaining a thigh injury in their friendly against Olympiakos.
While Sesko has struggled to make an impact at United, Hojlund is enjoying a renaissance in Italy where previously his performances for Atalanta persuaded United to pay £72m for him in the summer of 2023.
Two goals with his weaker right foot against Cremonese last weekend took Hojlund’s total for the season to nine plus three assists.
The striker, pictured with girlfriend Laura Rhod Sondergaard, has a new lease of life in Italy
Six have come in Serie A, making him the joint third top-scorer. There have been two more in the Champions League, and one in the Italian Super Cup. When Napoli beat Bologna in the final in Saudi Arabia before Christmas, Hojlund couldn’t help himself.
‘What a great decision looks like,’ he posted under a photo showing him holding the trophy in a not-so-subtle dig at United.
Antonio Conte saw the physical qualities in Hojlund that made him a perfect replacement for Lukaku. Conte spoke to the player and so did Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna. There was a conversation with Scott McTominay who has been a revelation in Italy since leaving Old Trafford for Naples in the summer of 2024.
‘United made it quite clear to me that I wasn’t part of their plans for this year, coming into the season with no European football,’ Hojlund, who also had interest from Juventus and AC Milan, told Sports Illustrated this week.
‘Napoli saw an opportunity to go and get me, and I made it quite obvious to my camp that I only wanted to go there. I’ve been so happy here so far and I’m really enjoying it.’
The loan has cost Napoli £5.24m with an obligation to buy Hojlund for £38.46m on July 1 if, as expected, Conte’s side qualify for the Champions League.
If they do not, there is still an option to buy him and Manna told Italian media this week that it is ‘a formality’, adding: ‘The player considers himself a Napoli player and the same goes for us. This is extremely important.’
Hojlund is third-highest scorer in Serie A and has been bullying defenders
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis moved quickly to protect his investment, inserting a £74.3m buyout clause in Hojlund’s contract from the summer of 2027, which is already starting to look like a conservative valuation.
The 22-year-old has settled well in Naples. He checked into the Grand Hotel Parkers and then the De Bonart, a luxury hotel on Corso Vittorio Emanuele where many of the club’s new signings stay.
McTominay has helped him to integrate into his new surroundings, and they are known to hang out with the club’s foreign brigade which includes Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour.
Hojlund has since set up home in the ancient seaside town of Pozzuoli, west of Naples and roughly halfway up the coast between the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and the club’s training base at Castel Volturno 20 miles away.
With views across the Bay of Naples and the Tyrrhenian Sea beyond, Pozzuoli gives the former Sturm Graz and FC Copenhagen striker the privacy he wants away from the noise and congestion of the city where he is rarely seen.
Having first moved to Bergamo with Atalanta when he was just 19, Hojlund is easing his way back into Italian life and learning the language again.
‘It’s important to try and implement that into your lifestyle, especially here in Italy because the language is a big part of the culture,’ he said this week.
‘By now I can pretty much understand everything they say. I can’t just get into a conversation with a Neapolitan, but my Italian is getting much better.’
The 22-year-old is spearheading Napoli’s attack and has stepped in well for Romelu Lukaku
Hojlund is doing his talking on the pitch, giving Napoli the pace and power that will be familiar to United fans, but with a more clinical edge in front of goal.
After he bullied Cremonese’s muscular defender Federico Baschirotto last weekend, Conte praised his technical and tactical development while stressing that he remains a work in progress.
The Italian media were more effusive in their praise. Corriere dello Sport described him as ‘a force of nature’. Gazzetta dello Sport lauded him as ‘the Azzurri prince’ and ‘like a cyborg loaned to football’.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing, mind. Hojlund went more than two months without a goal between October and early December, and missed a penalty against Qarabag in the Champions League.
But Conte’s decision to switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation (also favoured by Ruben Amorim at United) in the wake of a Serie A defeat to Bologna, and link Hojlund up with winger David Neres, has paid dividends.
Of Napoli’s 15 goals since then, Hojlund and Neres have scored 11 of them. Hojlund is expected to be the main man when Lukaku returns from injury, and spearhead Napoli’s bid for back-to-back scudettos. They are in third place behind the two Milan clubs going into Sunday’s visit to Lazio.
Like McTominay, Hojlund is enjoying a new lease of life in Serie A, although it would be fair to question whether they would have had the same impact in the Premier League. After all, Hojlund wasn’t short of opportunities at United.
But having top-scored in his first season with 16 goals and helped the club win the FA Cup, he only hit 10 in the second – including five in his first five games under Amorim.
Hojlund is another example of a Man United player thriving in a different environment
There is a feeling that too much burden was placed on young shoulders, and Hojlund suffered from poor service during United’s worst season in more than half a century.
‘I learned a lot from the years I was in Manchester,’ he said this week. ‘I played a lot of games for one of the biggest clubs ever with a lot of pressure.
‘You could argue I probably needed a year more, but I feel like it was hard for me not to take that step because I was a United fan. I think I did well, especially in the first year when I had a good campaign in the Champions League and won a trophy with the guys.
‘I’m more calm now, and I don’t draw too many conclusions. I’m more focussed on the bigger perspective in that sense. I’m a better football player and a bit more experienced.’
Having made more than 200 senior appearances in England, Italy (twice), Austria and Denmark at the age of 22, it feels as though Rasmus Hojlund is a young man with a point to prove – and he’s just getting started.