Sold for €44m 

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Good news came in pairs this weekend for Manchester United fans. Alongside their hard-fought 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, fans of the Red Devils were also presented with welcome reports of Napoli qualifying for next season’s Champions League. As a result, the Serie A side will trigger a clause to sign on-loan striker Rasmus Højlund for €44 million (plus the initial €6m loan fee) just three years after his disastrous move to Old Trafford. And while the Danish striker seems to have regained his form in the Italian top-flight, the Old Trafford faithful will just be happy to see the back of the young forward in exchange for a decent fee.

Indeed, despite making the move to Man Utd amidst plenty of buzz due to his €79.8m transfer fee from Atalanta, Højlund ultimately failed to live up to the billing in England. Signed as the club’s fourth most expensive forward ever, the Dane had plenty to live up to but ended up bagging just 26 goals and six assists in 95 games across all competitions for Man Utd. That, unfortunately, worked out to a return of €2.49m per goal or assists provided by Højlund and while it isn’t the worst in Man Utd’s history, it was far too low for a player that was expected to be the club’s new No.9. But how do Højlund’s returns compare to Man Utd’s 10 most expensive attacking signings of all time? Let’s take a look.

When we calculate the fee per goals and assists for each of Man Utd’s biggest attacking signings, we get a list like the one above. And, as we can see, Højlund certainly wasn’t Man Utd’s worst attacking signing ever but he’s also not far off bottom spot. In terms of the best return for their investment, no attacking player comes close to Wayne Rooney. The Evertonian talent joined the club for €37m and went on to bag 396 goals and assists during his time at Old Trafford, which worked out at just €90k per goal or assist. In second place is Anthony Martial, who bagged 144 goal contributions after joining the club for €60m – which gave the French talent a return of €42k per goal or assist. Just behind the former Monaco star his Dimitar Berbatov, who averaged €46k per goal or assist during his time at the club.

Below the top three is a notable drop off to a number of players that Man Utd fans would rather not spend too much time reminiscing about. In fourth place is Romelu Lukaku, who was largely considered a €85m flop and, as a result, cost €1.57m per goal or assist at the club. He sits above fellow transfer market disappointed Alexis Sanchez, who cost €2.43m per goal or assist. Just below them is the aforementioned Højlund on €2.49m per goal or assist, which puts him just above fellow Serie A import Joshua Zirkzee, who has cost €3.04m per goal or assist at the club. As we can see, the only players that have cost Man Utd more are the three stars that recently joined – Matheus Cunha (€5.3m per goal or assist), Bryan Mbeumo (€5.36m) and Benjamin Sesko (€5.88m). However, due to their relative lack of games, it would be unfair to judge them too harshly at this moment in time. Which, ultimately, makes Højlund the second most costly attacker among Man Utd’s top 10 signings.