Football Thoughts

It didn't take long after Manchester United's signing of Danish marksman Rasmus Højlund for the mainstream media in the United Kingdom to plaster his face alongside Erling Haaland's on a number of different graphics juxtaposing the players.  Outwardly, this may have appeared to be a playful, light-hearted means of comparison between two Scandinavian strikers whose last names happen to be rather similar. However in reality, when one realizes that those intricate details are about the extent of their likeness and comparability, it might bring forth a more cynical conclusion that such comparisons to the man coming off a record-breaking Premier League campaign are really just setting Rasmus up to fail.  Nine goals and four assists in 20 Serie A starts versus 36 goals and eight assists in 33 Premier League starts . Age 20 versus age 23 - a significant  gap in development, physical standing, and just about any other aspect one can think of in regard to the growth of a footballe...

When the schedule for the 2023/24 Premier League season was first announced, a familiar feeling reverberated around the red side of Manchester; an easy start. As in recent years with visits from Leeds and Brighton and trips to Southampton and Brentford, a start at home against Wolves followed by a trip to Tottenham looked particularly tasty. The signings of Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund gave rose-tinted glasses to the missed opportunities that preceded them - none of which were more disappointing than losing out on Harry Kane to Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga. But the well-oiled PR machine that is Manchester United did what they do best under the Glazer ownership, spoon-feeding fans the perceived brilliance of their transfer business as the fans themselves grow increasingly numb to the drop in standards all while growing in familiarity with the feeling of settling for second-best year after year. Erling Haaland? Try Edinson Cavani. Frenkie de Jong, you say? Here's an aging Casemi...

"The theatre is living its dream." Peter Drury's iconic and distinguished voice provided the commentary for Cristiano Ronaldo's majestic return to Old Trafford. "Madeira, Manchester, Madrid, Turin, and Manchester again. Reeved in red. Restored to this great gallery of the game. A walking work of art. Vintage, beyond valuation, beyond forgery or imitation, eighteen years since that trembling teenager of touch and tease, first tiptoed onto the historic stage, now in his immaculate maturity, now CR7 reunited."  For a lifelong Manchester United fan like myself - too young to witness a Roy Keane or a Ruud van Nistelrooy but old enough to experience Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand - the restoration of the game's greatest player to the Theatre of Dreams was, fittingly, a dream come true. Being just four years old when Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for a world-record 96 million euros, his first stint in Manchester was nothing more to me than stories from m...