Just watched Match of the Day, and have seen the travails of Hojlund. On twitter there were the usual “he just needs one to go in and he’ll be away” sort of posts.
But it got me thinking, what examples are there of players that struggled at first, but went on to be really important and effective strikers? Obviously, youth team players that came through the ranks don’t count. Really just big signings at big clubs.
It’s a lesser example but Dzeko at City arrived in January 2011 and I think only managed to score twice (league goals) until the end of the season (6 in all comps.).
He then went on to score 19, 15 and 26 in his next three seasons in all competitions.
I remember thinking we’d signed a bit of a dud but he ended up being fairly reliable, albeit not spectacular.