30 eye-catching transfers
World Soccer|September 2023
Jamie Evans identifies the summer's most interesting transfer movements
Jamie Evans
30 eye-catching transfers

RASMUS HOJLUND

(Atalanta to Manchester United)

1 As a tall, powerful, deceptively quick Scandinavian striker with a powerful left foot arriving in Manchester, the similarities between Hojlund and Erling Haaland are obvious and inevitable, and will probably be made regularly as the season goes on.

Indeed, the comparisons go even further: after making his debut in his home country, Hojlund also moved to Austria, where he sufficiently impressed for Sturm Graz to earn a move to Atalanta last summer. The Dane does not have the same off-the-scale scoring numbers as Haaland in club football - ten goals for the Italian side took him to 27 in four seasons - but six goals in six caps for Denmark suggests that he has the ability to handle a step up in class.

Manchester United may not welcome the comparison, given that they view Hojlund as one for the future, but he has the potential to have an instant impact, not least by allowing Marcus Rashford to operate exclusively from his preferred left-wing position.

NICOLAS JACKSON

(Villarreal to Chelsea)

2 Chelsea's new forward has done well in avoiding the club's "cursed" number nine shirt. The last player to score 20 league goals in it was Jimmy-Floyd Hasslebaink in 2001-02. Since then, Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo, Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all worn the shirt number without living up to their reputations or price tags.

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