by MaddFM.
A tall, blonde, left-footed powerhouse Striker from Scandinavia and his name isn’t Erling Braut Haaland..what is going on?
Rasmus Winther Højlund was born in February 2003 and as has been the case previously with strong technical forwards from Northern Europe, he has enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom since making his FC Copenhagen debut at just 17 in the 2020 Danish Superliga. One of three brothers (the other two being younger twins who are also on the books at Copenhagen), Rasmus became a first team regular the following season and after helping Copenhagen win their first Danish league title in 5 years as well as scoring twice in the Europa Conference League, he soon found himself the subject of a €1.8m move to Sturm Graz in Austria during the January 2022 transfer window, and it was from here that his career accelerated and has quite literally taken off to make him one of the most sought-after Strikers in European football.
The Højlund brothers
After scoring two goals on his debut for Sturm Graz, 18-year-old Højlund went on to score 6 goals in 13 games that season and despite having only just joined the club in January he was already heavily linked with another move in the Summer of 2022. He started the 2022/2023 season in Austria scoring 6 goals in 8 games and this was more than enough to convince Italian giants Atalanta to part with a reported €17m for his signature in August 2022 just 8 months after he arrived in Austria. As remarkable rises go, this is surely among the wildest and most impressive one might see at this level.
Although he scored 12 goals in just 21 games for Sturm Graz, one would expect that a player still only 19-years-old might need some time to adapt to the huge jump in level that is Serie A football, and on paper it appeared to be the case for Højlund as he managed just 1 goal and 1 assist in his first 11 appearances for La Dea. However, considering he only started 4 of these it’s clear that Gian Piero Gasperini had a plan for Rasmus Højlund, and while all eyes were on the World Cup in Qatar, Højlund was able to spend time on the training ground learning from the likes of Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel (both of whom missed out as Colombia failed to qualify) and since Serie A football returned to our screens, Højlund has started like a house on fire scoring 5 goals in 8 games and helping to propel Atalanta right back up the table to 6th at the time of writing. It’s little surprise that he is already linked with yet another move to an even bigger club, with the likes of Man Utd, Inter, Arsenal and Real Madrid all rumoured to be keeping tabs on his impressive progress in Bergamo.
At 6’3” and arguably still growing, Højlund initially appears to be ideally suited as a Target Man however he has also proven his athleticism, dribbling ability and speed with the ball (akin to Haaland) as illustrated by his running/dribbling stats - at times showing even more mobility and directness than Haaland this season with higher Progressive Carries (301 vs 271), Distance Carried (1663 vs 1270) and Carries into the Final Third (17 vs 6) which show what an asset he has become as part of that famous counter-attacking style which Atalanta are renowned for deploying. Equally he also is highly effective when it comes to his effectiveness in and around the box, scoring in the 99th percentile for Progressive Passes Received and in the 90th percentile for Touches in the Opposition Penalty Area in Serie A (stats via Fbref).
In Football Manager 2023, Højlund starts off as a 19-year-old versatile forward with excellent physical and mental attributes along with highly promising technical and finishing ability. 15 Pace combined with 15 Determination and 15 Finishing make for a hell of a striking prospect in this game not to mention his Height and Heading / Jumping Reach etc. He can be deployed in almost any Striker role and will surely thrive under your tutelage if given the right training and developmental support in-game.
While he is not easily attainable at the start of FM23 considering he has just arrived at Atalanta and is locked into a contract until 2027 in Bergamo, there is little doubt he is good enough for almost any elite tier team and his price tag of €17m-€20m makes him very much affordable for any bigger club in Europe and almost all Premier League sides. Despite starting slightly slower in my own save wherein he is still at Atalanta after five seasons, at 24 he is showing signs of quickly becoming an elite Striker in-game scoring 21 goals in 31 appearances last season and already bagging 9 goals in the opening 16 games of the 2027/2028 season.
6 years in..
With the FM23 Winter Data Update due any day now, it’s extremely likely Højlund will receive some form of upgrade or attributes boost if his recent form is anything to go by. Mark my words - there’s another Scandinavian goal-machine in town 🔥.
Thanks for reading.
Let us know if you have any Wonderkids you would like us to cover or if you are interested in profiling any specific players for our Wonderkid Watch series, you can drop us a DM on Twitter or reach out to MaddFM for more info 👌.
