Standing at two crossroads, one side is Harry Kane, the other side is a young and easier to buy striker, both Chelsea and MU chose option 2. But up to this point, neither Nicolas Jackson nor Ramus Hojlund has meeting the expectations of two British giants.
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Kane has scored 19 goals in just 15 matches for Bayern, a telling number. For the teams that have contacted the England captain, they certainly have comparisons with the strikers on their payroll. To be fair, Jackson and Hojlund both played extremely hard. Aside from the comparison with Kane, they are young strikers full of potential even though they have only just arrived in England for the first time. Just give them more time and things will improve.
This happened to Jackson. "He is in the process of developing," coach Unai Emery defended Jackson after he went 10 consecutive matches without scoring in Villarreal last season. "I don't know when, but once Jackson starts shooting, people will have to pay attention to his numbers. I wish it was now, but Jackson still has to work hard."
Until early April this year, Jackson had only scored 2 goals in 24 La Liga matches (8 starts). He almost moved to Bournemouth if he didn't have health problems. And the turning point came in the match against Sociedad. Just like Emery said, Jackson hasn't stopped scoring since then. In the last 11 matches for Villarreal, Jackson scored 10 goals, won the title of La Liga Player of the Month for May and most importantly, the ticket to Chelsea.
And now Jackson is in another "process", with much greater pressure at Villarreal. Coincidentally, Jackson had difficulty adapting, scoring only 2 goals in his first 9 Premier League matches. "I believe in him," Coach Pochettino said about Jackson after his severely criticized performance in the loss to Brentford. "The only thing we need to do is give him time." And 9 days later, Jackson scored a hat-trick against Tottenham.
It feels like Hojlund is also on that path. At this time last season, Hojlund had only scored 1 goal for Atalanta. He only arrived at the end of August under a 17 million euro contract from Sturm Graz (Austria). Hojlund raised expectations of becoming the "new Erling Haaland", but his slow start in Serie A disappointed many people. Unable to win a starting position at Atalanta, Hojlund only had 4 starts before the 2022 World Cup arrived. But this is the beginning of a spectacular transformation. In 11 Serie A matches, Hojlund scored 1 goal. In 21 matches after the winter break, he opened fire 8 times.
At this point, coach Gian Piero Gasperini commented: "Hojlund has the qualities to become one of the best strikers in the world. In fact, he is currently one of, if not the, best young striker. the best in Europe". And like Jackson, Gasperini did not have enough time to witness Hojlund's development to the end.
But MU believed Gasperini and agreed to spend 75 million euros, not including 10 million in variable costs, to bring Hojlund to Old Trafford. Confidence in the prospect of Hojlund becoming the best striker in Europe was initially overwhelming but has now leveled off, combined with the poor performance of the entire MU team. Obviously, both MU and Chelsea have reason to invest in the future, but they forgot their mission of "title competitors" in the present. And with an uncertain reality, is there a stable future for Hojlund and Jackson?
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