"He’s been thrown into the deep end" - Pundit claims one Manchester United star would have benefited if Cristiano Ronaldo was still at the club

Former Manchester United defender Clayton Blackmore believes that Rasmus Hojlund would have benefited from playing with Cristiano Ronaldo. He thinks the Red Devils made a mistake by making the young Danish star the lead striker at the club.

Speaking to AceOdds, Blackmore opined that Hojlund was too young to take up a big responsibility when the Red Devils signed him from Atalanta. He added that the Premier League was too big of a step for the striker and blamed Erik ten Hag for the same. He said (via GOAL):

"I do feel for Hojlund. He's a young boy and he's still learning. I think Ronaldo would have been a great player for Hojlund to learn from and play off. Now he's been thrown into the deep end and has to learn by himself. He only had 13 senior goals that season when United signed him which is another big decision from Ten Hag. I don't know what he was thinking, bringing in so many unproven players in the Premier League. It's a different beast."

Rasmus Hojlund had played just 34 games for the Atalanta first team when Manchester United splashed £72 million to sign him. He has scored just 26 goals in his 95 matches for the Red Devils in the two seasons at the club.

Rasmus Hojlund has the quality and needs to make changes at Manchester United, says Clayton Blackmore

Clayton Blackmore, adding on Rasmus Hojlund's stint, said that he had a chat about him with club legend Mark Hughes. He advised the striker to push the defenders away and get on the ball instead of fighting them and said (via GOAL):

"I do think Hojlund has the qualities to succeed. I just think he plays the number nine role incorrectly at times. He backs into centre backs and that's not how to do it. I spoke to Mark Hughes about it and he gave some advice. He said Hojlund should back into the defender and then push away from them to get onto the ball.

"Give yourself five or six yards to control the ball and then do what you want with it. Instead he's trying to control the ball and stand on the centre half. He's too busy fighting. He didn't look like a good centre forward. He wasn't getting into the right positions. He also wasn't getting into the penalty box when crosses came in. But I've seen him and he can run, his feet are good and he's got it all there to be a top striker."

Rasmus Hojlund has been linked with a move to Juventus and Napoli this summer, with Manchester United looking to bring in a new striker.