It took just 37 seconds for Rasmus Hojlund to be inducted into a very special club.

His first minute goal at Luton, which saw him capitalise on a calamitous decision by Amari’i Bell before rounding the goalkeeper, made it six successive Premier League games with a goal.

Hojlund, the youngest player in Premier League history to achieve that feat, etched his name alongside four titans of United’s history: Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Eric Cantona. Now United have four players to score in six successive Premier League appearances.

At the rate he’s going, records will continue to tumble for Hojlund. He is playing with a swagger, an arrogance – a compliment in this instance – that he belongs leading the line for a club the size of Manchester United.

For a shirt that is supposed to weigh heavier than most, it couldn’t look lighter for the Dane right now.

Rasmus Hojlund sent out yet another reminder of how lethal he can be in the Premier League

The Dane scored twice as Manchester United defeated Luton Town 2-1 at Kenilworth Road

He’s got some way to go to matching the career totals of Cantona (82), Ronaldo (145) and Van Nistelrooy (150) at United, but since Boxing Day it is almost like fans are seeing the real Rasmus Hojlund. Statistically, he’s one of the most lethal strikers in Europe’s top five leagues since Christmas and he’s showed no signs of letting up.

It has clicked and as Gary Neville put it during commentary at Kenilworth Road, he’s the ‘real deal’ now without doubt.

For so long the 21-year-old, who United splashed £72million on, had to listen to the ridicule directed at him. Within a couple of months of the season starting he was lazily being labelled a ‘bust’ by critics. Some fans even began to express doubts.

But, crucially, two people never lost faith: Erik ten Hag and Hojlund. Both knew the formula to success was brewing as he got his feet under him.

‘I never doubted myself but of course you can be a bit down when you don’t score,’ he said.

‘I knew it was just a matter of time. I was learning my team-mates and knowing their positioning. I always try to do my best. Three points is the most important thing. I always want to score but I’ll always fight.’

The differences now – that learning he has been doing – are there for all to see.

His first saw him pounce on a mistake before rounding the goalkeeper to net after 37 seconds

Hojlund’s (back, six-yard box) second saw him react to chest in Alejandro Garnacho’s volley

In his first 14 Premier League games Hojlund had zero goals, zero assists, just seven shots on target and an accuracy of 47 per cent.

Now fast forward to his last six league games and it makes for very different reading: seven goals, two assists, nine shots on target, with a 90 per cent accuracy and a 64 per cent conversion. No wonder no other player in the league has scored more than him in 2024.

At Luton it was his two goals that secured United’s fifth straight win – the first time they have won five consecutive matches in all competitions since January 2023.

His first was fortuitous but well taken. His second, again appeared fortuitous but Hojlund insisted it was a deliberate contact with his chest from Alejandro Garnacho’s volley. One off the training ground, he claimed.

But there was actually a lot more to Hojlund’s game on the day that pointed to the level of work he has put in away from the cameras at Carrington.

The above graph provided by Sofascore shows Hojlund’s rankings compared to strikers in top five leagues since Boxing Day

Sources have spoken of how much of a student of the game Hojlund is. 

It was then perhaps no great surprise when he collared Darren Fletcher to get him five minutes with ex-United striker Robin van Persie during the Dutchman’s recent training ground visit.

‘Robin says he’s asking a lot of questions, the sign of someone who wants to learn, a student,’ Rio Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel.

‘It’s nice that humility and humbleness to show. It bodes well for the future of this club.’

And it was telling that in the wake of his match-winning display in Bedfordshire it was shooting practice that was first in his thoughts. He’s not satisfied yet. 

‘We need to work on our finishing this week,’ he said, with Ten Hag frustrated that United lacking a clinical edge as Luton were inches away from salvaging a draw in the final stages.

There’s a smile on Hojlund’s face these days that hits differently to the one he tried to wear earlier in the campaign, even after games he had played relatively well in.

He knows he’s the main man currently, the centre of the Man United universe, and is rightly getting his flowers. But he also knows he is getting better by the week. Here it was his hold-up play that caught the eye.

‘We recruited him as he’s a strong character,’ Ten Hag said. ‘Although he’s 21 he can really perform under stress. That’s what you need as a Manchester United striker.

Hojlund is now playing with a swagger that shows he can embrace the pressure at United

It is not just his scoring that is improving, with his hold-up play catching the eye versus Luton

‘He doesn’t get nervous or lose confidence when he’s not scoring. Once you are in a run, you see it, now he’s scoring and he’s in. That’s how he is now.

‘He has a lot of confidence and I’m sure he’ll score more.’

Fulham, consider yourself warned…