Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund is enduring a torrid goal drought but the Premier League’s hottest striker actually snubbed Old Trafford.
Manchester United fans have watched top strikers scoring goal after goal at Old Trafford.
The likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney and Eric Cantona are a distant memory right now though.
In fact, United fans would probably snap your hand off for a less-heralded player like Louis Saha given the struggles of Ruben Amorim’s strikers.
Rasmus Hojlund has now gone 16 games without a goal whilst Joshua Zirkzee isn’t exactly faring much better.
Rio Ferdinand has questioned Hojlund’s role and United may be left rueing one transfer miss from back in the summer of 2022.
Alexander Isak snubbed Manchester United
Erik ten Hag was on board as United boss in the summer of 2022 and Cristiano Ronaldo was heading into the second season of his return spell.
Ronaldo ended up leaving United in November 2022, Anthony Martial struggled and Wout Weghorst was never going to be the long-term answer.
Hojlund arrived in 2023 but a year earlier, United had made moves for another Scandinavian striker.
Mundo Deportivo in Spain reported that United made a move to sign Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.
However, it was suggested that Isak’s representatives advised against a move to United, instead urging him to join Newcastle.
Perhaps, at the time, the fear was that Isak would be stuck behind Ronaldo whereas he could become an immediate star at Newcastle.
That decision has certainly paid off with Isak now the Premier League’s hottest striker.
Isak scored twice against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, taking his tally for the season to 19 goals; only Mohamed Salah has more.
Isak’s tally is only 11 goals shy of United’s entire total for the season too as he has simply terrorised defenders this season.
We can only look on at Isak in pure envy; the Newcastle star is now well out of United’s range and would almost certainly command well in advance of £100million in the transfer market.
United missed the chance to sign Isak and as Hojlund’s drought goes on, we can only wonder what Isak could be doing in the United attack right now.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 13 |  Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 32 | -1 | 33 |
| 14 |  EvertonEverton | 26 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 29 | 33 | -4 | 31 |
| 15 |  Man UtdManchester United | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 37 | -7 | 30 |
| 16 |  West HamWest Ham | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 47 | -17 | 30 |
| 17 |  WolvesWolves | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 36 | 54 | -18 | 22 |
United chased Isak for years before 2022 snub
That rumoured snub in 2022 would have hurt United, who had been interested in Isak for many years.
The Sun claimed back in 2016 that United had been scouting a teenage Isak in action for AIK over in his native Sweden.
Isak was a hot talent at the time and many of Europe’s top clubs were flocking to watch him and potentially sign him.
Borussia Dortmund won the race for Isak but the move to Germany really didn’t work out, with Isak ending up at Real Sociedad.
The pursuit didn’t end there though as United scout Marcel Bout was spotted watching Isak in action for the La Liga side in 2020, as noted by the Manchester Evening News.
United tracked Isak for six years, possibly on and off, before seeing him move to Newcastle United in 2022.
Sadly, Isak will have to go in the ‘almost’ category for United, which has featured some high-profile names in recent years.
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