Manchester United and Denmark midfielder, Christian Eriksen, has given his two cents on the Red Devils’ incoming new striker, Rasmus Højlund, after the club reportedly reached an agreement to sign the young Dane last week.
Rasmus Winther Højlund had been one of a number of centre-forwards on Man United‘s list of transfer targets over the past few months, alongside the likes of England captain Harry Kane and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
However, after interest in the Premier League marksman and Serie A’s top goalscorer seems to have cooled, United stepped up their pursuit of the Atlanta striker and managed to get a deal over the line on Sunday, 30 July for an estimated fee of £72 million including add-ons.
Ahead of Højlund flying to Manchester on Tuesday afternoon to finalise his move, according to Sky Sports, his fellow compatriot and soon-to-be United teammate, Christian Eriksen, shed some light on what fans can expect from their inbound signing.
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen shares his thoughts on potential new signings Rasmus Hojland and Andre Onana 💭✍️ pic.twitter.com/y0gbo1rkQP
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 31, 2023
Eriksen shares his thoughts on what Højlund might bring to Old Trafford.
Speaking to media after Erik ten Hag and co.’s final pre-season game against Borussia Dortmund (which ended in a 3-2 defeat), the 31-year-old admitted that while he hadn’t seen much of the football he played over in Italy last season, the youngster has left a good impression on international duty.
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“He’s a strong number nine and has developed a lot in the last year from when I first saw him with the national team”, Eriksen told the likes of Simon Peach and Melissa Reddy in the post-match interviews.
Labelling him a “nice guy” and “very good player” already, the creative midfielder who arrived at Old Trafford last year said Højlund is turning into an out-and-out striker both for his national team and Atalanta, joking that many might not have heard him prior to the transfer rumours because of the lake of media attention in Denmark.
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Many supporters were also pleased to learn recently that it isn’t just his finishing ability they can look forward to (being dubbed by some as ‘the next Haaland‘) but that he always has quite the turn of pace when his legs get going — the fastest in the Atalanta squad and faster than Rashford in some instances.
How Rasmus Højlund's top speed compares to the fastest #mufc players last season:
– 𝐇ø𝐣𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐝: 𝟑𝟓.𝟗𝟕 𝐤𝐦/𝐡 – Rashford: 35.95 km/h – Dalot: 35.76 km/h – Antony: 35.29 km/h – Shaw: 34.85 km/h – Malacia: 34.76 km/h
Although many have laughed off the comparison between Højlund and Haaland — the former registering scoring 16 goals and seven assists in 41 appearances last season compared to the Norwegian’s record-breaking Premier League tally and 41 goals in the same number of games at his age — there’s clearly a lot of buzz around the soon-to-be-announced signing.
The young forward is expected to be announced imminently after apparently arriving in Manchester to sign on the dotted line, as per Fabrizio Romano, and will reportedly sign a five-year contract with an option of extending for a further year.
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If you want a better idea of the kind of player United are getting their hands on, you can watch Rasmus Højlund highlights from the 2022/23 season down below:
He might not quite be the ‘next Haaland’ but he doesn’t look half bad.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
1st August 2023 
