One of AC Milan’s targets for the summer mercato, Joshua Zirkzee, has recently spoken about his time in Serie A and his impressive season with Bologna. The Dutchman has been heavily linked with a move to the Rossoneri, and his comments could bode well for the club’s chances of signing him.
There are very few names that have impressed as much as Joshua Zirkzee this year, and the forward now seems to be on the trajectory once imagined he would go onto when he was rising through the ranks with Bayern Munich.
The Dutchman was heavily touted as the next big thing for the German side, but he never lived up to those expectations until this year. Now, the Dutchman is flying, and several elite European clubs are weighing up a move for him in the summer.
As expected, Milan are among those sides, given they are on the hunt for a new number nine, and for an extended period, they have had Zirkzee near the top of their list – especially given the links between the Rossoneri and Thiago Motta, who is the mastermind behind Zirkzee’s sharp upturn.
Zirkzee spoke to Dutch newspaper AD, about his season and his fascination for the Serie A – his words have been relayed by Radio Rossonera.
The experience in Serie A…
“Serie A has always fascinated me. In previous years I played for a short period at Parma on loan, but I had an injury there. At that point, I went to Anderlecht with Vincent Kompany, a coach who explained a lot to me. That year with him was very important for my growth. Now at Bologna, things are really going in the right direction.
“I always thought that coming back to Italy would be an option. I made my debut here with Sinisa Mihajlovic, but unfortunately, he left not long afterwards. Then Thiago Motta arrived. And I knew from the start that Serie A, if I played, would turn me into a better player.”
Zirkzee on Thiago Motta and Bologna’s season
“We always want to play football. Such an approach was not new for me, of course we did it at Bayern as well. There is a lot of enthusiasm in this Bologna team and that is a credit to Motta, who is a great boss, he loves his job.
“He was very good as a player, you could already see that he was going to be a coach because he has a high football IQ. I like this attacking game. But I’m convinced that I could also adapt to a counter-attacking, old-style football. But of course, this is more fun, a bit Dutch.”
Bayern will buy Zirkzee for 40 million, and exchange him plus cash for Theo Hernandez
Not worth giving theo,maignan or leao away for him.Theo is one if not he best LB in the world.Zirkzee is promising and a very good player but would be so dumb to give away theo for him
Pardon ignorance on Zirkzee here for those who have watched him play more than a handful of times. What I’ve seen from him reminded me of CDK – which is not a traditional #9 and more of an Antonio Cassano CF. Am I off? Because if I am not, he won’t fit under Pioli.
It won’t be a problem. Motta will arrive as well.