Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has suggested Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund will become a more effective player than Darwin Núñez. The Uruguayan scored his 13th goal of the season in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Brentford before being forced off with an injury.
His tally could — and probably should — be higher though with Núñez having more shots than any other player in the Premier League this season. He has also hit the woodwork nine times, including on four separate occasions in the recent win over Chelsea.
Højlund meanwhile has been in electric form after a difficult start to life at United. He scored twice in the 2-1 win over Luton. His first goal saw him skilfully round the keeper, while his second came from a clever flick and it means the Danish striker has now scored in five consecutive games.
And Owen, speaking on Premier League Productions, compared Hojlund’s technique favorably to that of Núñez, despite the Liverpool man receiving praise for his dinked effort against Brentford.
Owen said: “It’s very similar. A Højlund punt or clearance, just like the Liverpool goal. Exactly the same position now. Everything is the same, isn’t it? What does he (Højlund) do? In fact, it’s probably easier to chip the goalkeeper from here (in comparison to Núñez’s). He has got another four or five yards to get the ball up and down, so it’s the easier finish but still not the right finish.
“Much more efficiently, he goes around the goalkeeper, that’s what I am saying. That finish, whether you like slotting, dinking or going around like that. In the long term, you are going to score far more goals doing the right percentage finish each time and that’s what Højlund has just done.
“There are no rights or wrongs in finishing in many ways. Apart from the Núñez one, it’s just wrong in many ways. You just can’t do that and score big numbers. It’s just incredible.”