Tuesday night, a newly printed and pasted billboard along Wharfside Way, a major thoroughfare that runs next to Old Trafford, asked, “Who put the ball in the Germans’ net?” in anticipation of Bayern Munich’s arrival that evening.

However, the response to the well-known query, which Manchester United supporters have been asking since the 1999 Champions League final, was unusual. The words “Hopefully Rasmus Hojlund” appeared instead of “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer”.

Though it was a good idea and had the ideal number of syllables to scan with the original chant, those expectations were not going to come true. Hojlund remained silent as United exited the Champions League with a whimper, placing last in Group A.

Not that he was always like this. Despite United’s terrible European campaign, Hojlund was perhaps the one bright spot. He finished the Champions League as the team’s joint highest scorer, having scored five goals against all of his Group A opponents, albeit all in losses.

But on Tuesday night, Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, Bayern’s center-back duo, dominated and kept him comfortably at bay. Hojlund was unable to register a single shot on a night when United needed to win and score.

It was a performance that was much more in line with his performance in the Premier League, where he has made 12 appearances, including nine starts, and is still waiting for his first goal despite a lot of hard running and clever movement.

Does this warrant any concern? In some ways, it is inevitable for a young, largely unknown striker signed for £64.2 million ($81.1 million), potentially increasing to £72.8 million. However, just as Hojlund’s goal total may not accurately represent where he is in his career, neither do his goalscoring numbers adequately indicate how poorly United’s first season at Old Trafford went.

To begin with, he has occasionally been a touch unfortunate. If he had not seen a nice move and finish disallowed after Marcus Rashford’s cross was ruled to have gone marginally out of play during his entire debut in the 3-1 loss against Brighton & Hove Albion, his lack of Premier League goals would not have become such a talking point. Alternatively, if he had connected on a low Rashford cross that went across the face of goal and his reaching legs missed it by millimeters.

Afterwards, Hojlund had another excellent opportunity against Luton Town last month, but Thomas Kaminski’s incredible save at close range denied him, and in October, he had a similar easy chance against Sheffield United that caused Wes Foderingham to make a save.

Hojlund’s attempts at finishing, however unsatisfactory each time, have added to the impression that he is occupying the proper spots and almost capitalizing. Hojlund is underperforming his expected goals (xG) in the Premier League alone by 2.6 xG, which is higher than all but five other elite players.

However, an xG per 90 minutes of 0.30 is not league-leading; in fact, it is less than that of Scott McTominay, so perhaps this should not come as a complete surprise.

Over the past two years, Hojlund has quickly risen from the outskirts of Copenhagen’s first squad; nonetheless, even with his breakthrough performances at Sturm Graz and Atalanta, he has produced decent, if not outstanding, shooting production.

It has dropped to 1.81 per 90 at United, somewhat higher than Pedro Porro of Tottenham Hotspur, level with Abdoulaye Doucoure of Everton, but lower than Bobby De Cordova-Reid of Fulham.