Is Rasmus even the best player in his family? Mail Sport visits the cramped, concrete pitch where the Hojlund brothers played as kids and could re-enact their battles on
- Rasmus Hojlund will return to his boyhood club with Man United on Wednesday
- The United striker could face his two younger brothers against Copenhagen
- CHRIS SUTTON: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is a CLOWN – It’s All Kicking Off
The Oresund Strait comes into view at Skodsborg, stretching out from Denmark to the Swedish coastline beyond. A couple more stops and the train pulls into Horsholm.
It is here, in the hushed calm of a middle-class suburb 15 miles north of Copenhagen, that Rasmus Hojlund’s remarkable journey began.
Stroll along Stadionalle, where Hojlund studied at Valerodskolen and first played football at Horsholm Usserod Idraetsklub (HUI) opposite, and very little stands out about the cluster of low-set grey buildings on either side of the road. The Hojlund family home is a short walk from here.
It was always on the cards that Rasmus and his younger twin brothers – Oscar and Emil – would turn out to be footballers.
Their dad Anders had one season in the Superliga with Copenhagen outfit B93 playing alongside current Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand.
Rasmus Hojlund will return to his boyhood club Copenhagen with Man United on Tuesday
Hojlund and his younger brothers, Oscar (right) and Emil (left) are carving out careers in professional football
Hojlund has struggled to score goals consistently since moving to Man United in the summer
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Their mother Kirsten was a top sprinter for the country’s leading athletics club Sparta, which might explain why Rasmus can run the 100 metres in under 11 seconds. He also excelled at swimming, but kept jumping the gun. Tennis too.
Anders worked in construction as a carpenter and he converted the basement of the house into a mini pitch so his three sons could play indoors when the rain lashed off the Oresund.
‘I had a lot of tournaments against my brothers on that pitch,’ nodded Hojlund when the 20-year-old was interviewed by Manchester United’s in-house TV station following his move to England in the summer.
Those childhood battles on the cramped, concrete pitch at home in Horsholm could be re-enacted at Parken Stadium on Wednesday night when United face FC Copenhagen in the Champions League again.
It came close to happening at Old Trafford a fortnight ago as Rasmus came off three minutes before Oscar went on as a substitute for FC Copenhagen, and helped win the late penalty that was saved by Andre Onana to give United a 1-0 victory. Emil, meanwhile, made his senior debut for the Danes along with his twin against Lyngby in July.
‘The whole family is infected with football,’ says Christian Mouroux, the sports director at HUI who helped Anders coach the boys while Kirsten helped as team administrator.
‘People outside Horsholm say that Anders must have really pushed these boys, but I think Kirsten pushed them more.’
The other quirk is that United’s new £72million striker may not even be the best player in his own family. ‘His twin brothers are just as talented, if not more so,’ says Mouroux. ‘Especially Oscar. He is a fantastic talent. So, so gifted.’
Hojlund grew up in Denmark and is still developing at United aged just 20
Rasmus was never the best player growing up, it seems. Talk to anyone who has witnessed his progression, and they describe a young man driven to succeed by sheer willpower and dedication. It’s a recurring theme.
He spent his childhood on the pitches here at HUI repeating drills for hour after hour, usually with his dad and brothers.
Hojlund returned whenever possible after leaving Denmark to play for Sturm Graz in Austria and Atalanta in Italy. Even last summer, as his £72million move to United was about to go through, Hojlund was back at HUI after a holiday in Greece.
‘He borrowed balls from us and did his own training,’ says Mouroux who encountered Hojlund by chance at Copenhagen airport and ‘could see that he was stoked and something was in the works’.
He added: ‘I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen him down on the field doing his own thing. When we’d have a social gathering in the club at Christmas, we would walk by the pitch and he would be standing there doing drills.
‘Two years ago he worked as a youth coach during summer camp. The little kids still ride their bikes past him and wave. I don’t think they will let him train by himself any longer!’
It was a similar story at Valerodskolen where Hojlund’s old headmaster Michael Geilager recalls the youngster’s competitive streak.
‘He was very determined,’ says Geilager. ‘We had to make some limits for him because he didn’t stop until he had won. There were some very long games.
‘They played so much football that they almost made a hole in the cement in the playground.’
Hojlund possessed a competitive streak as a youngster and began to excel in football at a young age
Hojlund was a boyhood Man United supporter and eventually sealed his dream move to Old Trafford in the summer
When Denmark introduced new laws over longer hours in the school curriculum, Geilager and Hojlund’s parents came up with a plan that allowed him to get off early to train with Brondby.
‘We talked a lot, his parents and me, and we found a solution,’ he recalls. ‘They were flexible and so were we, and it was almost legal so we were all happy.
‘We put on a lesson for doing homework and other things. It was loose, you could say. But you could be sure that when the family said they would make him do the homework, they would.’
Louise Morell Sonne taught Danish to Oscar and remembers how Rasmus would look out for his little brothers.
‘If he had a birthday cake with his classmates then he would make sure that his younger brothers had some as well,’ she recalls. ‘Rasmus was a very caring brother.’
As a child, Rasmus was always looking out for his younger brothers
At Brondby, though, Hojlund’s determination to win at all costs would often land him in trouble after he was fast-tracked into the older age-groups and played against kids bigger than himself.
‘That didn’t bother him. He didn’t take that into account,’ smiles his former coach Morten Corlin. ‘He never wanted to back down, never wanted to lose. He was always so mad when he didn’t win.
‘There was always something to work on with Rasmus. There was never calm. No easy training sessions.
‘He wasn’t the best on the ball or off it, but determination wise he was fantastic. But as well as the fantastic side, we also had the dark side of Rasmus.
‘If we had new players or someone who beat him in a game or training session he would bully them a little bit afterwards because he didn’t want to lose.
‘He’d be on the case of his teammates and opponents. “Don’t do that next time”. The session never ended for him. Socially in a football team it could be a bit annoying. I don’t think he could turn it on or off.
‘Sometimes he would really cross the line and I would tell him off. Otherwise we tried to work with him and talk to the parents.
‘One year he was an Under-12 player in the Under-13 team and for a period of three or four months I sent him back down to the Under-12s because he couldn’t relax and play his football. We wanted him to be himself and not always fighting.’
There was an upside to Hojlund’s combative streak, though. ‘He was always at his best when we were at our worst,’ adds Corlin. ‘When we were one player down, he would always step up and cover the position that was missing and also his own.’
They say the same about Oscar, by the way.
When Hojlund stopped growing at the same rate as his teammates and began to stagnate at Brondby, it coincided with Oscar and Emil joining FC Copenhagen’s academy. All three brothers moved clubs and schools at the same time.
Copenhagen saw something in his raw physicality and converted him from an attacking midfielder into a striker.
Hojlund (right) impressed as a youngster in Denmark and was quickly scouted by clubs
Hojlund could face his brothers Oscar (left) and Emil (right) in the Champions League on Tuesday
He made his senior debut at 17, the first of 32 appearances. However, just three were starts. The low point came when he was substituted less than 25 minutes into a cup game, fuelling a feeling that he wasn’t fully appreciated at his hometown team.
Hojlund joined Graz for £1.5m in January last year and Atalanta for £15m seven months later. When United paid the Italians £72m in the summer, making him the biggest most expensive Danish player of all time by some distance, Copenhagen must have been kicking themselves.
The three moves happened within the space of 20 months. ‘It has gone insanely fast for him,’ says Mouroux. ‘To have the courage to say I want to go out of my comfort zone and live in another country alone says everything about him.
‘Rasmus is someone who really relishes a challenge. He grows every time you put him into deep waters.’
United could have signed Hojlund for £12m before he moved to Atalanta, but saw him as largely unproven having only played in Denmark and Austria. When he continued to progress in Italy, they stepped up their interest in September last year and had a scout at every game to assess his performance and personality.
Hojlund has scored three times in the Champions League for United but is yet to score in the Premier League
Hojlund was wanted by Paris Saint-Germain in the summer but eventually joined United
Wary that Paris Saint-Germain were hovering this summer – as well as Tottenham, armed with £86.4m from selling Harry Kane – United’s football director John Murtough left pre-season tour in Houston and flew to Bergamo.
Murtough arrived at Atalanta’s training ground at 3pm and eventually got a deal done at 3.30am. The fee of £64m plus £8m in add-ons was substantially higher than United had initially envisaged, but less than the £90m Atalanta demanded.
When Hojlund landed in Manchester, he told MUTV that the ‘d’ in his name is silent. It’s about the only thing about him that is.
After Denmark took a big step towards Euro 24 by beating Finland last month, Hojlund grabbed a megaphone and told fans: ‘We are going to the f***ing Euros, f***ing come on!’
United have got themselves quite a character. Three goals in 13 games – all in the Champions League – is a modest return on their investment, but there was always an acceptance that Hojlund is a rough diamond who will need time.
Denmark previously had another wonderkid in the form of Nicklas Bendtner
Hojlund has been entrusted by Erik ten Hag to lead the line for Manchester United this season
In that sense, the comparisons with Manchester’s other blond Scandinavian striker are premature.
‘I feel it’s unfair to compare him with Erling Haaland,’ says Mouroux.
‘But there is this beautiful comparison in Denmark with the other wonderkid we had, Nicklas Bendtner. They are two incredibly different opposites.’
While Bendtner’s penchant for the party lifestyle included a high-profile relationship with Danish socialite Baroness Caroline Iuel-Brockdorff, Hojlund’s girlfriend Laura Rhod Sondergaard hails from Horsholm.
It’s interesting that the rather gawky centre-parting United’s new signing sported when he was unveiled in front of the Old Trafford crowd in August had already been given a makeover by the time he made his debut at Arsenal a month later.
Hojlund’s Scandinavian roots have seen him at times unfairly compared to Man City’s Erling Haaland
United could have signed Hojlund for £12m before he moved to Atalanta, but saw him as largely unproven
But Mouroux is convinced Hojlund will not be affected by fame. ‘One hundred per cent not. Bendtner was a natural talent and things came quite easily to him. He was never super dedicated as such, other than to the life and the dream.
‘Rasmus is dedicated to the craft and hard work, he enjoys setting goals. I don’t believe he will crumble.
‘It will not be doing well in the beginning and then folding, giving up or letting the ladies or booze enter his life. He is a completely different character.
‘I cannot guarantee that he will be a success because it’s one of the biggest stages in football, but I am sure that if he is given time he will grow into it. I really think he can become a legend at Manchester United.’
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