Benni McCarthy Reveals 3 Strikers Man United Rejected Before Signing Hojlund

· GiveMeSport

Four players were on Manchester United's striker shortlist in the summer of 2023 and Benni McCarthy has since revealed who they were.

In the summer of 2023, Erik ten Hag ’s second in charge at Manchester United , a shiny new line-leader was high on the priority list. United held interest in some of the world's best strikers and, in the end, the services of Rasmus Hojlund were snared for a fee of £72 million. The young Dane, however, blew hot and cold at Old Trafford.

After a promising start, Hojlund's form tailed away, and he was shipped out on loan to Napoli for the 2025/26 season. He impressed enough for the Italian giants to make his move permanent.

During his stint at United, Hojlund played for the club 95 times and scored 26 goals.

Rasmus Hojlund has joined some illustrious company as Manchester United's newest number nine.

But who are the other names that the Red Devils, 13-time champions of the Premier League during Sir Alex Ferguson ’s illustrious reign, were keeping tabs on before Copenhagen-born Hojlund arrived through the doors of the Theatre of Dreams?

Speaking in February 2025, ex-Man United coach Benni McCarthy revealed the three strikers that the Red Devils rejected in favour of a move for Hojlund. Let’s take a look at what they’re up to nowadays.

> "In the summer of 2023, Harry Kane was our No. 1 target. Kane was the prime target, but obviously, the price tag was an issue. Because he would have been leaving Spurs for United, a few extra million pounds were added on to the price tag,” McCarthy said.

There’s no doubting that Harry Kane has been among the greatest line-leaders in world football for a number of years – and McCarthy insisted that having Hojlund learn off the talismanic Englishman would have been the best course of action.

The United Kingdom has produced some legendary forwards throughout the years.

> "But for £100million, if you look at it now, you'd say that it would have been well worth it because he's gone to Bayern, and he's still producing, he's still scoring," the former Blackburn Rovers and Porto marksman continued.

> "So you think we should have just bitten the bullet and got Harry Kane and then also tried to invest in Rasmus Hojlund. That would have been the best thing for Rasmus if he had if he had someone like Harry Kane involved. So, yeah, Harry Kane was Erik's No. 1 target. Erik really wanted him."

London-born Kane moved to Bayern Munich in the same summer and has been one of the Bundesliga's biggest terrors in front of goal since – as evidenced by his 155 strikes and 39 assists in 157 appearances in Bavaria.

Adding another name to Ten Hag’s three-man striker shortlist, McCarthy name-dropped Randal Kolo Muani , who was plying his trade for Eintracht Frankfurt at the time. He said: "Kolo Muani was also very high on that list."

The versatile Frenchman moved to big-spenders Paris Saint-Germain in September 2023 – but, in fact, struggled to pull up trees in the French capital. A chance to re-find an expression of his talent came in the form of a loan move to Juventus in January 2025, where he notched 10 goals in 22 appearances.

He joined Tottenham on loan the following season, but only managed five goals across 41 matches in all competitions. Despite his struggles in north London, Juventus paid PSG €50 million for his services in the summer of 2026.

A couple of years ago, Victor Osimhen - by virtue of scoring goals at an alarming rate in Italy - was one of the hottest properties in world football and Chelsea were also one of the leading candidates to win the tug-of-war for his signature.

The 52-cap Nigeria international joined Galatasaray on a temporary basis in the summer of 2024 before completing a permanent move to the Turkish giants a year later.

> "Victor Osimhen was also on that list. But I felt that if you're going to want to spend that kind of money - £100million plus - then you want a complete package."

McCarthy insisted that, unlike Kane, Ten Hag and his entourage believed that Osimhen, who remains widely regarded as one of the best African players in world football right now , was not the ‘complete package’ – hence why they snubbed the opportunity to snare his signature.

Now 27, he's been scoring goals for fun in Turkey in recent years. He's scored 65 times in 81 appearances for Aslanlar over the past few seasons.

All statistics per WhoScored - correct as of 19/10/26.

Read the original

People in this story

Related