Striker Rasmus Højlund impressed Ruben Amorim with a timely goal in a 4-1 win over Bournemouth but the Manchester United head coach did not offer the 22-year-old any reassurance over his future.
Højlund has struggled since his £72million move from Atalanta two years ago but on the day reports claimed United had made their first move for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, the Denmark international responded with the opener in Chicago. Patrick Dorgu and Amad Diallo extended their lead before 19-year-old academy graduate Ethan Williams scored his first senior goal two minutes after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute.
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“I’m really happy with Rasmus, but I don’t know what is going to happen until the end of the market,” Amorim told reporters at a press conference. “The important thing is that Rasmus is scoring goals. He’s connecting really well with the team. He’s improving. Again, I don’t know what is going to happen until the market is closed. We suffered a lot because of the lack of goals last season.”
Matheus Cunha did not play due to fatigue while fellow new signing Bryan Mbeumo is scheduled to make his first appearance against Everton in Atlanta on Sunday. Harry Maguire was replaced by Matthijs de Ligt, who scored an 88th-minute own goal, at half-time as United continue to treat the centre-back with caution.
“He had an issue during the holidays, during training. He’s a little bit late (in his training schedule) so we have to be careful with him,” Amorim added. “It’s just a little bit fatigue with the training so we are trying to control everything and saving all the players, to give the exact minutes they need.”
Left-back Dorgu, who joined for £25m from Lecce in February, provided the assist for Hojlund before getting on the scoresheet himself and he was another player who caught Amorim’s eye. “He looks more and more like he belongs in Manchester United, and that is hard to do it at 20 years old so I’m really impressed with Patrick,” added the United boss, who was equally happy with Williams’ goal. “I celebrate that goal. It’s not usual, even during the season, but I celebrate that goal because I really like to see the kids that work really well.”
Amorim believes the work done in pre-season, something he was not able to do having arrived in November, is paying dividends. “I’m really happy with the players that we had last season. They are improving. We look like a different team today. Let’s continue with that,” he said. “But again, it’s a pre-season game. The pressure is going to be so much different during the season. It’s important for them to understand that the same players can play a different game.”
