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"We create some chances and then it's always the same problem, the lack of goals." That was Ruben Amorim's assessment of Manchester United's dull 0-0 draw with Manchester City last Sunday and he looked tired of repeating the same line each week. His side are steadily improving and there have been plenty of encouraging signs in recent games, but they still look incapable of scoring.
And it was telling that Amorim was not asked about the performance of his main centre-forward, Rasmus Hojlund. That is because the Dane's display was depressingly familiar, just the latest demonstration of a player utterly lacking in confidence who looks incapable of finding the net. He had zero shots against City, zero touches in the opposing box and lost the ball four times before being hauled off for Joshua Zirkzee.
The Dane at least managed to have two attempts in United's Europa League quarter-final first leg with Lyon but he never looked like scoring, scuffing a wonderful pass from Patrick Dorgu wide and firing a weak shot straight at the hosts' goalkeeper. Hojlund is not just not scoring: with one goal in his last 25 appearances for United, he is barely creating any danger.
The revelation that Harry Maguire posed more of a threat in terms of expected goals in nine minutes on the pitch against Nottingham Forest than Hojlund had in his previous 15 appearances summed up his current predicament. It is little surprise, therefore, that United are on the look out for a new striker and are set to battle Chelsea to sign Liam Delap in the summer.
Despite playing in one of the weakest sides in the league who are heading straight back to the Championship, Delap has managed to score 12 Premier League goals - four times as many as Hojlund - in his first full season in the top flight. The 22-year-old got his footballing education at Manchester City alongside Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers and is being talked about as Harry Kane's successor for England. He would certainly be a smart recruit for United if they can meet Ipswich's reported evaluation of £40 million ($51m), which could drop to £30m ($39m) if the Tractor Boys are relegated.
But the fact that United are bidding for another young and largely unproven centre-forward shows that they have lost faith in the man they chose to sign instead of Harry Kane, and who they paid a whopping £72m ($94m) for, making him their eighth most expensive signing of all time.
But where does Hojlund rank among all the strikers United have had in the Premier League era?
