A sporting director has admitted the problems he faced after he signed a current Manchester United player.
Manchester United have made their fair share of poor signings over the past decade or so with a well-documented failure in recruitment with Ed Woodward and John Murtough in charge.
The likes of Angel Di Maria, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Harry Maguire are all players who haven’t lived up to the high expectations. Expectations brought on by the fees parted with to sign them.
This is hopefully a concern of the past, with Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe set to overhaul the recruitment at Old Trafford.
But bad recruitment isn’t just a problem at United and is the biggest fear of sporting directors across Europe.
Now one sporting director has admitted that signing a current United player left him getting destroyed.
Lee Congerton makes admission over signing Rasmus Hojlund for Atalanta
For former Atalanta sporting director, his biggest gamble was spending £15m on Rasmus Hojlund.
Hojlund arrived as a prospect from Strum Graz, albeit one who had yet to really find himself as a footballer, which didn’t exactly go down well at the Serie A side, as Lee Congerton himself explains to Telegraph Sport.
“The reality is they destroyed me in Italy during that time,” he began.
“This foreign guy in Italian football has bought a player from Austria, born 2003, who had been a failure in Copenhagen.
“If you take away the World Cup, 10 months later, we sold him for €85 million (£72m).
“That is Atalanta. It’s simple. They know what they are. They rely on the academy and the scouting.”
We imagine that he got a lot of apologies from those who’d previously destroyed him after the sale to United went through.
That being said, we have faith that United could find Hojlund to be a similar bargain in the future.
Rasmus Hojlund could make £72m Manchester United paid a bargain
For United, right now the £72m deal to sign Hojlund on paper doesn’t look great.
He’s hardly set the world alight this season and bar a run of seven games, goals in England have been a struggle.
That being said, as of now, he has 13 goals this season, which for a debut campaign is a phenomenal return.
READ: Manchester United top scorers and assist leaders for 2023/24
Despite his struggles, his transfer value has risen to a whopping £92.4m which is an increase of 54% on his last value.
At this rate, he’ll soon be making the fee parted with look minuscule and if he can kick on next season, Atalanta will be left wishing they asked for more.