Napoli expected to trigger Højlund €44M clause in New Year

Napoli are ready to trigger Rasmus Hojlund’s €44million buy option according to Fabrizio Romano.

Hojlund could not have envisaged a better start to life in Naples scoring 4 goals across 6 games across Serie A and the Champions League. He scored a brace against Ruben Amorim’s former club in Sporting Lisbon and scored at the start of October against Genoa.

The Dane struggled to consistently perform at Old Trafford having joined from Atalanta in 2022 for €72,000,000, with the striker having scored only 14 goals across 62 games for the Red Devils.

Hojlund during the most recent at Manchester United stated in July that he wants to fight for his place amidst a time of much speculation of who would lead the United XI at the start of the season.

“The most important [thing] for me is to keep working hard and stay focused and then we’ll see what happens,” Højlund said. “My plan is very clear and that is for me to stay and fight for my spot.” He told the Guardian

After much speculation Manchester United decided to sign striker Benjamin Sesko for a fee of £66,000,000 from German club RB Leipzig.

As a result this subsequently left Hojlund out of the squad for the opening game of the season against Arsenal with Sesko coming on as a second half substitute.

Sesko is recently after settling into his new life in Manchester having scored his first goal in the 3-1 defeat to Brentford but has since gone on to score against Sunderland in a fairly routine 2-0 win and most recently assisting Bryan Mbeumo in the 4-2 triumph of Brighton at Old Trafford.

Napoli head coach Antonio Conte had a poke at United stating that ” he’s a 22 year old boy, who was on the sidelines.”

He was also full of praise for the Dane in which he told Gazzetta ” he has significant room for improvement, he needs to work because he has the potential to become a star, and he’s proving it.”

United will be hoping that they avoid another Jadon Sancho type of situation with the hope that with the funds that may be available this coming January can help United keep making positive strides on the market.

Jadon Sancho went on loan last season at his boyhood club Chelsea where he struggled to have any impact on proceedings at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had the choice to pay a £5million penalty fee to release Jadon Sancho back to Old Trafford and now he has since made the move to Aston Villa.

He is set to leave next summer when his 5 year contract expires which is a sad state of affairs for a player who came with such hype and potential.

He is reportedly earning £160k a week making him the highest paid player at Aston Villa with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Boubacar Kamara earning £150k each p/w.

Some of the names on Manchester United’s radar includes the likes of Carlos Baleba, Adam Wharton, and Conor Gallagher.

United’s four signings so far have seemingly settled into life in Manchester and the recent performances just demonstrates how settled attacking midfielder Matheus Cunha, winger Bryan Mbeumo, Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens and finally forward Benjamin Sesko.

Kobbie Mainoo has not yet started a league game for United and with the World Cup only a few months away, Mainoo has to start getting some regular minutes if he is to be on that plane to America.

Back in August, Kobbie had asked United if he could leave on loan and Ruben Amorim confirmed that he will stay and fight for his place alongside Bruno Fernandes.

Fabrizio Romano stated recently, that this is a situation that “for sure, the situation will be assessed again in the next months. At the moment, Kobbie is not creating any problem. Training at his best, trying his best for Man Utd. But he’s still not a regular starter. Kobbie wants to play, that’s not changed since August.”

So this is a situation to keep our eyes on as January inches closer and this will also play a factor on the business that United may conduct.