Manchester United Manager, Erik Ten Haag has explained why he substituted new signing Rasmus Hojlund in their 3-1 home loss to Brighton on Saturday.

Ten Haag’s decision to replace Højlund with Anthony Martial in the second half prompted loud boos from the home support. Afterwards, he insisted the reaction was down to Højlund’s positive performance on his full debut.

“I think it was positive,” Said Ten Hag after the game.

“You see the fans in the first moment in Old Trafford, the reception for [Højlund] was great.

I think he performed very well. It’s good they give this signal, this message. It will give Rasmus belief.”

“Everyone knows he came in with a small issue,” he added.

“We built him over the last three or four weeks but he is not ready for a whole game and we have many games to play at short notice, so we have to build the fitness.

“If he gets injured because he is not capable of playing 90 minutes then we are much farther away than where we want to be.”

Højlund, 20, almost marked his first United start with a goal but had a first-half equalizer ruled out by VAR.