Five Players Who Flopped in England But Proved Class Elsewhere Amid Rasmus Hojlund Napoli Run

Rasmus Hojlund is in the midst of a career resurgence at Napoli having spent two years struggling at Manchester United.

The Danish frontman has been considered a bit of a flop at Old Trafford under manager Ruben Amorim and it is clear to see and understand why.

Hojlund’s statistics make for grim reading in a red jersey with his Premier League goal scoring record leaving a lot to be desired.

In his 62 EPL appearances for the club, the 22-year-old has mustered only 14 goals which, at a club like United, cannot be considered acceptable.

Does that come down to the player himself and an inability to handle the pressures of playing top flight English football? Perhaps.

Is it down to Amorim’s set-up not quite suiting the £64million signing amid a refusal to change that system? Maybe.

Rasmus Hojlund shows Manchester United what they’re missing at Napoli

One thing that cannot be doubted now, though, is the fact that the international striker is thriving away from the Theatre of Dreams at Napoli who are the current Scudetto holders in Italy.

Hojlund has linked up well with Scott McTominay – coincidence? – and the rest of the Serie A giants and found the net four times in his first six outings.

He has become the main focal point for the squad to search for in big games to score big goals and that appears to suit him well.

But while Hojlund’s career trajectory has changed, the same can be said for a multitude of players over the years who have failed to find their feet in England.

We take a look at five players whose careers went from strength to strength after they left the Premier League… with some even returning to the division to haunt former bosses.

Diego Forlan

Forlan has been branded a bit of a failure at Manchester United over the years, but that is perhaps a harsh narrative.

The Uruguayan did go his first 18 matches without finding the net which always goes against him. He would eventually find his shooting boots but by that point the ship had sailed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WocAv9jMZfg

He left United to join Villarreal and hit the ground running.

He scored 25 league goals and won the Spanish Golden Boot and the European Golden Shoe in his first season at the Yellow Submarine.

Forlan would then transfer to Atletico Madrid and bang in 32 in 33 games in his first campaign.

Iago Aspas

The Spanish playmaker signed for Liverpool in 2013 but had a lot of tough competition in the Anfield squad at the time to try and shift.

The now-38-year-old could only manage 15 appearances for the Reds after they spent £7m on him and he found the net just once.

Fast forward and he enjoyed a loan with Sevilla – 10 goals in 25 – before making a permanent switch to Celta Vigo where it really clicked.

Aspas became the club’s all-time leading goal scorer where he has 216 goals and 84 assists in more than 530 appearances.

Mo Salah

Simply at the wrong place at the wrong time with Chelsea under Jose Mourinho. Salah made just 19 appearances for the Blues scoring twice and chipping in with two assists.

But it took a move away to Fiorentina and then AS Roma to really light a fire under the Egyptian and get him playing at his best.

That earned him a £43m move to Anfield where some fans still had questions following his failed Stamford Bridge stint.

He certainly shut everyone up and became one of the best players the country has ever seen.

Kevin de Bruyne

A relatively similar issue to Salah, the Belgian playmaker did not settle at Chelsea in London.

He actually made even less of a marker at the club with nine games and just the one assist before he left on loan initially to Werder Bremen and then to Wolfsburg on a permanent transfer.

He cost the Germans just £18m before he scored 20 goals and offered 37 assists in just 73 outings and he was sold on for a tidy profit when Manchester City paid £54m.

He is the complete footballer and scored 108 goals with 177 assists in 422 games before leaving for Napoli.

Angel di Maria

Cost Man United a significant amount of money in 2014 which, at £59.7m, was a record fee at the time in UK football.

He could not really compete at United and he made only 32 appearances before falling out of favour with manager Louis van Gaal.

In that time he would score only four times, albeit he had 11 assists to his name in the same number of matches.

Eventually the Argentine World Cup winner would leave for Paris Saint-Germain where he would go on to win five titles in Ligue 1 and net 83 goals and provide 119 assists from 295 games.