Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has rued the missed opportunity to sign Harry Kane last summer despite their attempts.

The Red Devils were keen on securing the signature of the England international who had a year left on his deal at Tottenham Hotspur.

However, the London club's valuation of the player meant United were priced out of a move with the English man moving to Bayern Munich while the Red Devils went on to sign Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta.

Kane has gone on to register 43 goals in 43 games for the Bundesliga giants despite failing to claim the league title for the first time in 10 years.

Hojlund, who was signed for £72 million, has scored 14 times in all competitions so far in his debut season for the Red Devils.

Ten Hag acknowledges the importance of missing out on Kane, noting that Manchester United has been outbid in the transfer market on more than one occasion.

"There's an expectation around every game from us [but] you can only fulfil that expectation when you have those outstanding players," Ten Hag told Gary Neville in an interview on Sky Sports.

"But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted.

"Then you have to build and you have to accept that you get talent in instead of players who have already proved it in the past. We have had some choices made with talents like Rasmus Hojlund.

"I can see a striker [Kane] who already proved it, who we want[ed] to sign and we couldn't get him. And then we went to Rasmus because he's a talent.

"With Harry Kane you know you get 30 goals. I think Rasmus will get there but he needs time.

"It's not fair to assess him the same as Harry Kane. I would never compare two players because they are very different. But with Rasmus Hojlund, we get the highest potential in the striker position last summer.

"We are very happy with him, but he also needs time to adapt. We are very pleased he has shown his capacity to score goals."