Signed from Atalanta in August for an initial fee of 64million, Hojlund has failed to hit the ground running in England, scoring just three goals in his first 13 appearances for the club. Each of his three goals have come in the Champions League, meaning he is still on the hunt for his first Premier League strike in United colours.
Saturday&aposs dramatic 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage marked his eighth consecutive blank in the league, meaning he is now approaching 10 hours of league football without scoring. His performances, however, have offered plenty of encouragement.
Hojlund&aposs struggles stem from United&aposs failure to create meaningful chances for the Dane. The likes of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony have done little to support Hojlund so far.
And for former Liverpool defender Carragher, who has compared Hojlund&aposs start to Nunez&aposs debut season at Anfield last term, the striker is not being helped by the fact the goals are not flowing for either Bruno Fernandes or Rashford.
“I think a clear problem as well is because Manchester United are struggling and Rashford hasn&apost scored too many, or Fernandes, they&aposre desperate to sort of score goals, so they&aposve got that mindset,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “They have got that mindset going into games, so that is not helping him [Hojlund].
“It is a little bit similar to Nunez last season. There are certainly things there that you like, and they certainly look promising. It is just whether he can kick into gear and end up getting them goals.”
Nunez, who joined Liverpool from Benfica in June 2022, scored 15 goals in all competitions last season, nine of which came in the Premier League. Just 15 games into the season, however, he is almost halfway to matching that tally, plundering seven goals so far.
Alongside Carragher on Monday Night Football was former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, who believes Hojlund and his teammates need to continue working on forming a solid understanding. Once that clicks, he is optimistic the 20-year-old will flourish.
