Manchester United’s summer rebuild stepped up a notch this week with an agreement in place for their third major signing of the summer. Following the additions of Mason Mount and Andre Onana, the Red Devils will also have a new striker with Rasmus Hojlund moving from Atalanta.
The Dane will be Manchester United’s most expensive signing of this transfer window and his addition will take the club’s total summer spend past £170m. A reported £72m fee for Hojlund would make him United’s sixth most expensive signing of all time with only Paul Pogba, Antony, Harry Maguire, Romelu Lukaku and Jadon Sancho costing more.
The fee will certainly raise some eyebrows given Hojlund only netted 9 times in Serie A last season with 12 of his 32 appearances coming off the substitutes’ bench. However, it’s not just his goalscoring prowess that Hojlund has been bought for with Ten Hag clearly keen on finding a target man who can lead the line and link up well with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho.
How much will Hojlund earn at Manchester United?
According to sources in Italy, it has been reported that Hojlund is set to earn eight times as much in Manchester as he did in Bergamo. That’s an enormous pay rise, although he was only making a modest €600,000 per year at Atalanta.
Hojlund’s basic Manchester United salary is believed to be in the region of £80,000 per week. There are likely to be several performance-related bonuses on top of that and it’s believed to be a five year deal with an option for an extra year.
If Hojlund is a success in the Premier League, it may not be too long before he’s in line for a fresh contract. Even after such a huge pay rise, his likely Manchester United deal would still see him considerably less than some of the division’s top stars, some of whom earn more than £300,000 per week.
How does Hojlund’s salary compare to other Man Utd players?
Although the striker is set to be the most expensive of Man Utd’s summer signings, his salary will not immediately reflect that. For example, Mason Mount’s contract will see him take home a reported £250,000 per week and that’s just his base salary, more than three times as much as Hojlund is set to initially make.
There are several United players that earn even more than Mount with the likes of Sancho, Raphael Varane and Casemiro among their top earners. Hojlund by comparison, will initially be one of the lowest paid players in Manchester United’s first team squad.
That’s partly due to his age and relative inexperience. Although he has impressed in Italy and caught the eye with some impressive showings for the Danish national team, Hojlund still has to prove himself at the elite level and United will want clear evidence that he can cut it in the Premier League before offering him a better deal.
Hojlund’s relatively low initial salary in comparison to most of his teammates, also helps make the deal more affordable overall and compensates somewhat for the high transfer fee.
