Question marks over recruitment have littered the Glazer era at Manchester United, with a handful of summer windows, in particular, looking like defining moments in hindsight.

Take 2009, for instance, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez replaced with Gabriel Obertan, Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen. Take 2013, a summer that began with new boss David Moyes chasing the likes of Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas, albeit with the deadline day arrival of Marouane Fellaini proving to be the only senior addition.

While perhaps not quite as infamous as both of those, the 2023 summer window also requires significant critique in retrospect, with United failing to capitalise on what had largely been a positive first season for Erik ten Hag, culminating in a third-place Premier League finish and Carabao Cup glory.

Talk was rife regarding the Dutchman’s interest in the likes of Harry Kane and Declan Rice, although the Red Devils ultimately turned to Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount instead, with Inter’s Andre Onana completing that trio of major marquee additions.

At a time when United could well have kicked on under the ex-Ajax boss, all three of those deals backfired to differing degrees.

While now a firm favourite of Ruben Amorim, Mount has scored just five times in 53 games across an injury-hit two years at Old Trafford. Onana, meanwhile, has been shipped out on loan to Turkey, having made as many as five errors leading to a goal in the Europa League and top-flight alone last term, as per Sofascore.

As for Hojlund, the 22-year-old is now the new golden boy of Napoli, albeit after scoring just 26 goals in 95 games in Manchester. Just imagine if Kane had arrived instead…

Why United signed Hojlund over Kane

There was a feeling that had it been during the golden days of Sir Alex Ferguson, Kane would have almost certainly been snapped up by the legendary Scotsman, having repeatedly raided the top-flight for the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.

Almost a guarantee of goals, having become the all-time top scorer for both Tottenham Hotspur and England, the playmaking striker had reportedly emerged as Ten Hag’s top target ahead of that 2023 window, with a new number nine a necessity at Old Trafford.

With just a year left on his contract, Kane – who had angled for a move to Manchester City two years earlier – appeared to be gettable, albeit with reports indicating that United were wary of doing business with the typically stubborn Daniel Levy.

There were reports which also claimed that Levy was unwilling to sell his prized possession to a top-flight rival, with then-United first-team coach Benni McCarthy since revealing that the club were hesitant to fork out £100m for a player in his 30s.

“Kane was the prime target, but obviously the price tag was an issue,” McCarthy said in 2024. “Because he would have been leaving Spurs for United, a few extra million pounds were added on to the price tag, which, you know, for a 30-year-old wasn’t seen to be wise.”

Frustratingly, Kane ultimately moved on to Bayern Munich for a fee of around £86m, while United turned to a player ten years his junior, splashing out an initial £64m on a 20-year-old Hojlund from Atalanta.

At the time, the promising Dane had scored just 27 club career goals at senior level, as per Transfermarkt, having since only added a further 30, across his time in Manchester and now in Naples.

For comparison, since departing for Munich, Kane has already reached 103 goals for the Bundesliga side in just 106 games, becoming the quickest player this century to reach triple figures for a club in Europe’s top five leagues.

A mistake, as is clear, was made that summer. The problem is, the Red Devils have since repeated it.

Man Utd's 'new Kane' is now another Hojlund

In defence of the United hierarchy at the time, the club had witnessed a string of short-term, veteran strikers come and go in the years prior, namely Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with a more long-term solution perhaps needed.

Games

4

6

Goals

2

11

Mins per goal

153

45

Big chances missed

1

3

Goal conversion

50%

52%

Assists

0

3

Big chances created

0

5

Key passes*

0.5

2.2

Total duels won*

54%

57%

That said, the argument – which McCarthy also puts forward – would be that a more canny operator would have parachuted in a player like Hojlund in order to serve as a deputy or successor to an experienced striker like Kane, rather than heaping unnecessary pressure on the youngster to solely carry the goalscoring burden.

“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 had someone like Harry Kane involved.”

In a way, the club did try to rectify that move by snapping up Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna a year later, with the Dutchman joining on a £36.5m deal, having been named Serie A’s Young Player of the Year the previous season.

At the time, analyst Ben Mattinson had suggested that Zirkzee could be a “natural successor” to Kane at Bayern, amid reports that the 6 foot 4 striker was in line to return to Munich.

Also described as “so similar” to the England skipper, United’s new man looked like an ideal alternative to Hojlund, operating as a self-described ‘nine and a half’ rather than an out-and-out centre-forward.

The problem was, however, that Zirkzee evidently didn’t possess the clinical quality of Kane in front of goal, having actually only scored 11 Serie A goals in 2023/24 – only two more than Hojlund achieved at Atalanta the year prior.

Unsurprisingly, much like the Dane, a player with no track record for scoring at a prolific rate has, well, not scored at anywhere near a prolific rate for United, ending his debut campaign with just seven goals in all competitions – just three of which came in the league.

There is something of a cult hero vibe to the fleet-footed forward, having impressively fought his way back from being jeered off against Newcastle United, although on current evidence, he is heading the same way as his former colleague.

Seemingly getting the Kobbie Mainoo treatment under Amorim, following an injury-hit summer, the 24-year-old has featured for just 82 minutes so far in 2025/26, failing to even start a single Premier League game.

With rumours rife over a swift January exit, and with Benjamin Sesko now the go-to man, Zirkzee looks set to follow Hojlund in not lasting any longer than two seasons at Old Trafford.

Like the new Napoli star, United’s number 11 has been unable to translate his Serie A form into English football, with those prior Kane comparisons now somewhat forgotten amid his goal-shy tendencies.

There is a talent in there, but as was the case with Hojlund, Amorim and co simply don’t have the time to wait around for such potential to be realised.