"To be honest, he wasn't on my radar at all before the transfer," says Dwight Yorke when asked about Manchester United starlet Rasmus Højlund and the impression he has made on the former Red Devils topscorer.
"United has been struggling in that position for quite some time, though, and he's got a couple of goals to his name, which is great for him," Yorke continues while staying relatively unimpressed with the, by all means, great goal the youngster scored for Denmark recently against San Marino.
"When you play for a club like Manchester United those are the kind of goals you'd expect to score against San Marino. Now he needs to bring that form to the Premier League," Yorke says with a shrug before finally breaking into that great big smile every Premier League-fan of a certain age knows full well while adding, "Listen, I'll take him over what who we've had in that position for the past few seasons! Even not knowing too much about him, seeing what I've seen so far, he gets my vote for now," he says with a chuckle.
Ten Hag needs to take responsibility
Yorke quickly turns serious again when asked whether Erik ten Hag should consider dropping Marcus Rashford after his poor start to the season for United.
"Absolutely not! It's difficult to drop your best player. It's always a challenge to come back and top a season like he had last season. When you look at how United has started this season, it's hard to point the finger at one individual. Maybe Ten Hag has to take some responsibility as well for how things are going, when seeing how he's handled a few situations. So no, Rashford is not playing well, but he's not the only one to blame," Yorke states while pointing out how well Rashford did for England against Italy.
"No matter how good you are, you are going to struggle in a team in decline. It is a team-sport, you rely on certain people to give you the ball in certain areas. And United have failed to take control of games this season," says 'Yorkie' who cuts an impressive figure these days, having clearly adding some bulging muscles to the lanky figure that set fire to the Premier League. He is currently in between jobs as not even Saudi Arabia has come in for the current Dubai-resident. Yet.
"I've tried creating contact myself," Yorke freely admits, but he knows he needs a break not necessarily related to how well your results are.
"The Saudi League has the PIF, who has a VIP list of players and managers, they are targeting. If you are not on that list, it is very unlikely you'll get picked. But I'm hopeful," he says optimistically while wondering how Robbie Fowler landed his gig as coach in Saudi.
"I have to be a bit careful what I say, but he's not winning. I got an opportunity in Australia, which I took and I had a 55 percent winning rate. You try building your credibility, and I am not sure Fowler has that credibility although he's been given multiple jobs. I don't think he's got many choices although he's a big name in England and that is probably why he ended up in Saudi Arabia."
While calling Fowler a bit of a journeyman, Yorke was more surprised seeing Steven Gerrard take a job in the Saudi Pro League.
West Ham an inspiration
"Gerrard was successful at Rangers, so while his time Villa was a bit of failure, a lot of us were still surprised by that move."
Speaking of Aston Villa, where Yorke found his breakthrough in the Premier League, he thinks they should do all they can to succeed in the Conference League.
"They haven't won anything since my time at the club, and until you've got yourself into that kind of position, you can't pick and choose what sort of trophy you are going after," says Yorke who thinks Villa will draw great inspiration from West Ham.
"What they did is an encouragement for any team, and will all due respect to the Hammers, I think Villa, historically, is a bigger club," says Yorke, who believes 'The Villains' should be targeting the top 6 in the Premier League.
"They'll be desperate to break into the top 4, and with Manchester United not being at their best and Chelsea struggling, perhaps a little crack in the door has opened," says Yorke, hoping Villa will be the one to slip inside.
This Tribalfootball.com interview with Dwight Yorke was conducted on behalf of investment platform Stocklytics.
