Erik ten Hag names the superstar signing the club missed out on last summer

Erik ten Hag named the superstar signing Manchester United missed out on last summer.

In a Sky Sports interview with Gary Neville, Ten Hag admitted the club tried to sign Harry Kane before the England captain’s move to Bayern Munich.

Kane departed Tottenham last summer for the Bavarian giants and has since scored some 43 goals in 43 games while registering 11 assists.

And Ten Hag admitted that the club tried to lure the marksman to Old Trafford, before ultimately settling on Rasmus Hojlund.

Ten Hag said: “You have to accept that sometimes you get talents in, instead of the players that have already proven it in the past.

“We had some choices made with talents like Rasmus Hojlund. I could see a striker who had already proved it, who we wanted to sign. We couldn’t get him. But Rasmus is a talent.”

When Neville enquired if Ten Hag was referring to Kane, he replied: “Yeah. Harry Kane, you know you get 30 goals. I think with Rasmus, he will get there.

“But he needs time. It’s not fair to assess him in the same way as Harry Kane. I would never compare the two players because they are very different, but Rasmus Hojlund can get the highest potential in the striker position.

“Last summer we were very happy. We are very happy with him. But you need time to adapt and we are very pleased that he showed his capacity, his assets, and his goalscoring. He had a very good period where he scored in many [consecutive] games.

“He showed before and also after, that he had some physical issues, which is normal for a young player coming up, but it has a negative impact on the team and that is something you have to accept.

“But, you go back to the fans and you go back to opinion makers, they don’t understand or don’t want to understand this. They only see the result, but we need time.”

Hojlund signed for United from Atalanta for £72million last August, with the 21-year-old having since scored 14 goals and registered two assists.