For Rasmus Hojlund, the international break is becoming more than a pause from Napoli’s early-season difficulties. Denmark have given the striker the kind of penalty-area involvement he has lacked in blue, and Massimiliano Allegri will be encouraged by the signs arriving from abroad before the forward returns to Castel Volturno.
Hojlund has scored once and played a part in another Denmark goal across his first two matches of the break. There are still two fixtures ahead: Portugal visit Parken on Thursday 1 October, before Denmark meet Wales again in Cardiff on Sunday 4 October. It is a short international sequence, but one that may return a sharper, more involved centre-forward to Napoli.
The clearest indication came in Oslo against Norway. Hojlund was presented with two headed opportunities and converted one to make it 2-2. Both moments came in the area a striker is expected to occupy, with deliveries arriving for him to attack. His physical strength, leap and timing have never been in doubt, yet Napoli have rarely supplied crosses that allowed him to use those qualities.
His two Napoli goals, against Como and Inter, came from outside the box. They showed his individual ability, but also underlined a broader issue in his opening six appearances: he had only 15 touches in the opposition penalty area. This has not been a case of a forward repeatedly failing to take chances. More often, Hojlund has simply not been placed in positions from which a traditional centre-forward can decide matches.
Against Wales on Sunday, he again looked determined to make his mark. Mikkel Damsgaard’s free-kick was diverted into the Welsh net by Ben Davies, with the goal officially registered as an own goal. Hojlund, however, believed he had reached the ball first. “I think it is my goal,” he said afterwards, insisting that he had touched it or at least grazed it with his knee. He also raised the matter with the referee after the final whistle.
The dispute over the scoresheet was secondary to the instinct behind it. Hojlund wanted to be the first player arriving at the decisive point, just as he had been against Norway. One match brought a header; the next saw him force a defensive error. Allegri had asked for greater presence in the final third and more availability around the goal. Denmark are currently offering their striker precisely those situations, and Napoli’s task will be to ensure that the work done during the break carries into the league campaign.
