Did Denmark find its Haaland? 20-year-old Hojlund also scored a hat-trick against Kazakhstan

Top scorer of the European Championship qualification? You wouldn’t guess his name. It’s the 20-year-old Rasmus Hojlund, who is on a roll in the Danish jersey. After Erling Haaland, there is talk of another interesting striker from Scandinavia.

The Norwegians have their Erling Haaland, while Denmark has been waiting for its attacking gem for a while. But it seems they have finally found him. Rasmus Hojlund, only 20 years old, has started to show his great potential.

Doesn’t that name ring a bell? Then know that this is the player who left Denmark for the first time at the beginning of last year. He went through several teams at youth level within his country, but eventually landed at FC Copenhagen, where he made his way into the adult ranks.

But in January 2022, he made his way towards Austria, transferring to the team from Graz. But he didn’t last long in the local league. He came to Styria for less than two million euros. At the end of August he moved to Italy for more than 17 million.

He started the season in Austria, but was eventually brought in by Atalanta and slowly found his place at the top of the attack in Bergamo. He starts most of his games in the starting line-up, although it took him a while to settle in.

The club relies on him and it shows. This season for Atalanta he has scored 8 goals in 25 games and added 2 assists. Of course, these aren’t the kind of numbers Erling Haaland has been racking up so far, yet the footballing public is now comparing him to him.

Moreover, Hojlund only celebrated his 20th birthday in February, so he is still very young and there is no need to rush him. However, he is putting pressure on himself with the performances he gave during the national break in the Denmark jersey. He made his first appearance for the A-team.

He had already made two starts for Denmark, but he kept his goals until the start of the European Championship qualifiers. On Thursday, he scored a hat-trick in Finland’s net to lead the 3-1 win, and he showed great form on Sunday against Kazakhstan.

He first opened the scoring after a beautiful pass from stopper Simon Kjaer in the 21st minute and added a second goal 15 minutes later. Although Kazakhstan produced a great finish to turn the game around, Hojlund still left an impression.

Moreover, the rising star of Danish football shows great footballing ability and disproves the fact that this is just a classic nine who will only score goals. On the contrary, he can also create chances for his teammates.

It seems almost certain that as the Austrian team has made money from Hojlund, so should his current employer. The Danish striker is now valued at €35 million by Transfermarkt.

Source: UEFA, Transfermarkt, Twitter