London, 3 May 2024 (PA Media/dpa/MIA) - Erik ten Hag wanted to sign Harry Kane but the Manchester United boss is convinced that Rasmus Hojlund will deliver on his potential.

Ten Hag has revealed that Kane was a target for the Premier League club before the England captain decided to join Bayern Munich last summer.

Instead, 21-year-old Denmark international Hojlund was recruited for £72 million ($90.4 million) from Atalanta and has so far scored 14 times in his debut campaign for the club, with eight of those goals in the Premier League.

“We have to win every game,” ten Hag told an interview with Gary Neville on Sky Sports.

“There’s an expectation around every game from us so you can only fulfil that expectation when you have those outstanding players.

“But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn’t always get the players we wanted.

“Then you have to build and you have to accept that you get talent in instead of players who have already proved it in the past. We have had some choices made with talents like Rasmus Hojlund.

“I can see a striker (Harry Kane) who already proved it, who we want to sign and we couldn’t get him. And then we went to Rasmus because he’s a talent.

“With Harry Kane you know you get 30 goals. I think Rasmus will get there but he needs time.

“It’s not fair to assess him the same as Harry Kane. I would never compare two players because they are very different.

“But with Rasmus Hojlund, we get the highest potential in the striker position last summer.

“We are very happy with him, but he also needs time to adapt. We are very pleased he has showed his capacity to score goals.”

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