Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has described Rasmus Hojlund's lean spell in front of goal as a "team problem".

Hojlund has not scored in his last eight appearances and only has two Premier League goals all season, having joined United from Atalanta for a fee rising to £72million 18 months ago.

The 21-year-old was decisively substituted against Southampton in the 53rd minute after he lost yet another duel with Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Hojlund's replacement, Joshua Zirkzee, was widely praised for his game-changing impact.

READ MORE: Ruben Amorim promises Manchester United rollercoaster as he admits 'fault' for Manuel Ugarte issue

READ MORE: Manchester United issue transfer window update amid uncertainty over three players' futures

Hojlund is in the midst of his third separate eight-game stretch without a goal for United and he is likely to be dropped for the visit of Brighton on Sunday.

Certain United teammates have harboured doubts about Hojlund since he first arrived at the club and some players consciously avoided passing him the ball in some games last term. After that story emerged, Hojlund was dropped by Erik ten Hag for United's final three games in 2023-24.

The Denmark international has also failed to score in his past 12 appearances for the national team and United are almost certain to sign a new starting striker in the summer.

Amorim conceded that United suffer from a "lack of goals" on Wednesday even though the club committed to investing £108.5m in Hojlund and Zirkzee in successive summers.

"I think it's a team problem," Amorim opined. "You can see it. It's not just from now, it's from the past. So we have clearly a lack of goals and a lack of threat. When you threaten the opponents, the opponents maybe don't press you so high. So everything is connected.

"All the players have moments in this season. I think when we started this journey together, Rasmus was the player that was always scoring. So he can come back in the next game, we will see.

"But I think it's more a team problem than a Rasmus problem. This is something that you can see from the past. We were in the past a team of transition and we still are. You can feel it. To create chances in the final third, we struggle a lot.

"But for that I think it's the most - I said it before the game - the most difficult moment to train is against low blocks, trying to create situations. So I think it's a team that feels more joy to play, waiting for the play and then in transition creating problems.

"So it's something that we have to change. To change we need training. So to have time to change, also we need to win games, we try to do that."