Raising Rasmus: How Hojlund developed at Copenhagen
Rasmus Hojlund is a young man of many talents. But even we didn’t know the prodigious Dane could see into the future. Yet if you revisit the striker’s comments upon leaving his boyhood club, FC Copenhagen, to join Austrian side Sturm Graz in January 2022, his words betray more than a sliver of clairvoyance.
Stefan Madsen, Copenhagen’s current assistant coach, first glimpsed Hojlund’s talents when the player was representing the youth ranks of their great rivals, Brondby, many years ago. And he does not hesitate to admit that the speed of Rasmus’s rise has taken everyone, including him, by surprise.
“I think it would be a lie if anyone says they predicted that one-and-a-half years after he left our club that he’d play for Manchester United,” he confesses. “No one expected it to be that fast! We always knew he was a good player and had the potential to be a really, really good professional. But it’s hats off to Rasmus for the work he has done over the last two years.”
“From personal experience, I was aware of him when he was 12 years old,” he remembers, “because at that time he played in Brondby and I was the Under-13 coach in FC Copenhagen. He scored a lot of goals against us!
“We noticed him and knew who he was, because he was a dominant player in that Brondby team. Then later on, before Under-15, he changed to FC Copenhagen. He was a bit similar to now: physically good, with a good left foot, and very passionate. But obviously on a smaller scale due to the age! But he played more in different positions. In Danish talent development, it’s quite normal that players play different positions in smaller age groups, to gain experience and to develop different aspects of their game. He played in midfield, and he also maybe played a little bit as a defender.”
After United’s 1-0 win at Burnley in September, Match of the Day host and former England striker Gary Lineker eulogised about the 20-year-old’s adroit movement in the opposition penalty area. MOTD pundit Danny Murphy agreed, noting: “Although he didn’t score, he got in positions I always think a striker should be in, and on another day he’s going to get goals, because he keeps on making really good runs.”
Shortly after United completed Hojlund’s signing in the summer, numerous reports suggested one of the things that had endeared Erik ten Hag to the then Atalanta forward was his ability to “smell” goals. But Stefan believes that’s a skill that the player has worked hard to nurture, rather than something purely instinctual.
“I know Morten Nordstrand [former Copenhagen striker and current Academy coach] worked a lot with him on how to move in the box, how to manipulate defenders in the box, different strategies in terms of finishing in different areas of the box,” he expands.
Hojlund presented at Old Trafford
Fans inside the stadium greet our new signing Rasmus Hojlund. Watch the Lens game live in our app now...
A growth spurt while playing for FCK’s Under-19 team was the catalyst for further adjustments. “Obviously, he has some supreme skills, with the speed and those high-velocity distance metres. But suddenly, he was just holding back big centre-backs to receive the ball, and spinning in behind. That was quite interesting, to watch that going on. You could see he was starting to learn, ‘what is my body actually capable of doing?’
“Rasmus might say: ‘If I run like this, then I might not have any power left to work offensively.’ So how can you work smart in the press so you do your job efficiently, so you feel you still have the freshness to go behind when we’re with the ball, or to contribute when we need you in the build-up?”
Hojlund’s highlights against Galatasaray
Player highlights | Watch Rasmus Hojlund’s best bits against Galatasaray to see why we’re so excited about his future…
FINDING HIS CONFIDENCE
From talking to Stefan, and indeed watching Hojlund in his early weeks as a United player, perhaps the most important impression you are left with is the player’s innate force of personality and confidence. When United Review asks Madsen for standout memories from working with the player during his younger days, it’s not necessarily on-the-pitch stuff, but the way Hojlund seems to approach life and learning.
“I think 'charismatic' is a good word to describe him,” his former coach muses. “He is loud but I’ve never seen him loud in a bad way; it's always with a smile on his lips. He'll crack a joke here and there, but he doesn't feel insulted if someone cracks a joke on him.
“There is a funny story from when he made his debut in the Copenhagen first team,” he continues. “He gets in the dressing room and gets a congratulations for the debut and then all the players in the dressing room go ‘shhh…’ like he has to speak. But it was not a tradition for debutants to give a speech! But Rasmus, as he is, just stepped on the chair and held a speech for 30-45 seconds, and then everyone clapped.
“Since then it’s been sort of a tradition that debutants speak. But I think that tells a lot about Rasmus – the confidence. If you want him to step up and speak? ‘Okay, no problem.’ But also that when he found out it was [meant as] a joke, he takes it with a smile and goes: ‘Well played, lads!’ It was quite well done for an 18-year-old. I remember that like it was yesterday.”
Part of that confidence, that self-assuredness and that appetite for meeting expectations undoubtedly comes from Hojlund’s family. Just look at the evidence: his mother Kirsten was an athlete, his father a former footballer. His younger brothers, twins Emil and Oscar, have both already made their first-team debuts for FCK, with Madsen also well acquainted with their talents.
“They are progressing really well, and starting to adapt to being in a senior environment on a daily basis,” he compliments. “I think the best word to describe the family is ‘ambitious’. Of course, now I coach the younger brothers, but I also coached them when I was U13 and U14 coach, so I know the family quite well. Ambitious, with demands on themselves but also on others. But again, also a family where you can speak the truth without any harm being done. I always experienced them as quite open and willing to discuss and talk things through in terms of what is best for the individual. There’s not so many other families that have three [professional footballers]!”
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RAPID PROGRESS
It’s less than two years since Rasmus said goodbye to FC Copenhagen, before successful spells at Sturm Graz and Atalanta – plus a hat-trick on his debut for Denmark – quickly catapulted him into the gossip columns. And then came the eventual move to Old Trafford. It’s the speed that has taken most onlookers aback, even those who expected the hard worker who was “always keen to learn” to make something of himself. “I think the move he made to Sturm Graz, and the way they played, it suited him perfectly,” praises Madsen. “It was a really good match. Then he moved to Atalanta, and he managed to bring his strengths into the pitch but also to develop some of the things he needed to. Now he’s made a good start at United too.”
Hojlund’s second goal against Galatasaray on matchday two particularly impressed his one-time coach, bringing back memories of a Copenhagen Europa Conference League victory in August 2021 at Parken. “The goal against Galatasaray was really good, where he just takes the ball, knocks the defender down [and finishes]. He’s actually done that before, which is something that’s stuck into my mind. He did something similar against another Turkish team, Sivasspor. It’s almost similar. When I saw that I thought: ‘Wow. There’s some special capabilities here. This is interesting.’”
Interesting, charismatic, ambitious – they are all fine words to describe Rasmus Hojlund and his burgeoning career as he inches towards his 21st birthday next February. Can his current rate of accelerated development continue? Every Manchester United fan – and all patriotic Danes – will hope it can, and the odds are surely favourable given what we have learned about Hojlund’s temperament and personality.
Our hosts for Wednesday's Champions League game in Denmark will try to pause their former striker's progression for another 90 minutes. But beneath the stern, focused game-faces, Madsen and co will surely harbour more than a little pride about their foundational role in the remarkable rise of Rasmus Hojlund.
This long read was first published in United Review on 24 October.