Rasmus Hojlund concerns behind Man Utd scramble to gift Ten Hag new striker signing in January

Ongoing concerns over Rasmus Hojlund’s fitness is driving Erik ten Hag to push Manchester United to dip into the transfer market for attacking reinforcements in January, TEAMtalk can exclusively reveal.

United swooped to sign Hojlund in a massive £72m summer deal from Atalanta and, despite failing to score in the Premier League, the striker has done pretty well with his all-action and robust style winning over Manchester United supporters. To date, Hojlund has five goals to his name – all of which came in the club’s ill-fated Champions League campaign.

But we can reveal that under-pressure United manager Ten Hag is having to manage Hojlund’s workload with the striker still struggling with the back injury which sidelined him at the start of the season.

In recent weeks Hojlund has surprisingly started on the bench in the defeats to Newcastle and Bournemouth, with Anthony Martial preferred in attack.

Martial struggled in both those defeats, with Hojlund returning to the starting line-up for the midweek fixtures against Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

However, that is more through necessity than Ten Hag’s personal choice, with the 20-year-old still suffering from the back problem which forced the Dane to miss United’s opening three Premier League games of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest.

United are wary of taking too many risks with Hojlund’s long-term fitness in the midst of the busy festive fixture schedule.

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Manchester United to seek striking reinforcements in January

Ten Hag is currently dealing with a major injury crisis at Old Trafford with Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw joining the ever-lengthening list of casualties after picking up knocks in the Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Tyrell Malacia, Casemiro, Mason Mount, Christian Eriksen and Amad Diallo are all currently out injured and Ten Hag will not want to see Hojlund face an extended spell on the sidelines too.

As a result of his ongoing fitness concerns, Ten Hag is pushing United to step up their pursuit of a new forward when the January transfer window reopens.

United are scouring the transfer market for potential targets with the likes of Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy, Brentford’s Ivan Toney and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner all on their list of options.

TEAMtalk exclusively revealed on Tuesday that Lois Openda, the RB Leipzig star, is a name frequently cropping up in Ten Hag’s conversations with his recruitment team in Old Trafford – but the German club are not prepared to sanction a move in January.

West Ham United, meanwhile, have identified Guirassy – second only to Harry Kane in the list of top scorers in the Bundesliga this season – as a top target in January.

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