Rene Meulensteen, a former Manchester United coach, has a hypothesis about why Rasmus Hojlund has struggled to score goals in his first four months at the club.

Hojlund has only scored five goals in 20 appearances for the Red Devils in all competitions since signing from Atalanta in August, and the 20-year-old has yet to score in his first 800 Premier League minutes.

But Meulensteen, who worked at Old Trafford from 2001 to 2013, believes Hojlund is not totally to fault for his lack of goals.

Meulensteen suggested to talkSPORT after Hojlund drew a blank in United’s 1-0 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich on Tuesday that the Danish striker is set up to fail when he plays alongside wingers whose natural tendencies are not to serve him.

Meulensteen commented of Hojlund’s performance against Bayern: “I thought he was way short. Against those defenders, he never really got a kick.

“But the problem is he is flanked by two individual players who have no intention to give him any kind of service because they want to create things for themselves and not help any striker.

“So there’s an imbalance, and that imbalance is going forward but also the imbalance is going back in terms of the defensive shape, which we’ve seen in so many games.”

United’s wingers against Bayern were Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, but Meulensteen’s suggestion may also apply to Marcus Rashford, who has been used out wide frequently this season.