Arsenal and Newcastle United have landed a boost in their pursuits of Atalanta BC forward Rasmus Hojlund. He is also a target of AC Milan but the Rossoneri cannot afford a transfer.
That is according to Calciomercato, which reports AC Milan will now rue missing out on the 20-year-old’s services last summer. Atalanta beat the San Siro natives to signing Hojlund in a €17m (£15m) deal with Sturm Graz. Now, La Dea value their Serie A star at €50m (£44m).
AC Milan have never lost any interest in the Denmark U21 international since he moved to Italy last August. Instead, his efforts at the Gewiss Stadium only make Rossoneri chiefs rue missing out. But they cannot afford to right last summer’s mistakes at Atalanta’s valuation.
AC Milan now hand Arsenal and Newcastle a boost in pursuit of Rasmus Hojlund
Hojlund is now starting to fully justify Atalanta’s decision to bet big on his arrival in recent weeks. The striker has scored five goals over eight Serie A games since the turn of the year. He had only scored one goal through the youngster’s first 11 Italian top-flight appearances.
The Copenhagen native delivering a consistent end product has also put the striker on the radars of further potential suitors. La Repubblica reports Arsenal are preparing to rival Real Madrid and make Atalanta a ‘monstrous’ offer to secure Hojlund’s transfer in the summer.
While Chronicle Live also reports that a potential transfer for Hojlund interests Newcastle as they track the Atalanta talent. The Magpies’ head of recruitment, Steve Nickson, has told the team’s scouts to monitor his progress. Calciomercato also cites Juventus as an option.
Rasmus Hojlund could show AC Milan why they want the Atalanta star’s transfer
Newcastle are tracking Hojlund’s form with Atalanta as they intend to target transfers for young and up-and-coming stars this summer. He could also now show AC Milan first-hand what they cannot afford on Sunday night. La Dea will travel to San Siro for a 19:45 kick-off.
Hojlund will face the Rossoneri having scored a goal in each of his past two Serie A outings. He also scored in three straight appearances earlier in 2023 against Spezia, Bologna and Salernitana. While Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini likens him to Erling Haaland, as well.
Gasperini told Pazzi Di Fanta after he scored against Lazio: “Hojlund has this spirit, energy, intensity but also technical quality that is just remarkable. He still has so much margin for improvement, too. He has very similar characteristics to Haaland, not just his face.
“He is so quick, he’s under 11 seconds over 100m and that’s not even trying very hard. Considering his height, he has a low centre of gravity and can move his legs very fast. I am convinced he’ll have a great career, he just gets stronger every day.”
Hojlund scoring at AC Milan may go a long way to showing why Arsenal and Newcastle are exploring the 6 ft 3 Atalanta star’s transfer. As well as netting against Spezia, Bologna and Salernitana plus Lazio, he penned his other Serie A goals to date against Monza and Lecce.
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