Joshua Zirkzee of Manchester United

CM: Zirkzee could return to Italy as Man Utd boss Amorim wants Gyokeres

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

Joshua Zirkzee’s start to life at Manchester United has not gone as smoothly as hoped, and the change in coach could lead to a January opportunity.

Calciomercato.com recall how Zirkzee came off the bench in the match between the Red Devils and Leicester City over the weekend with the game already decided at 2-0. The Dutchman has only made four starts in the Premier League, but the most recent was on September 29, a 3-0 defeat to Spurs.

Erik ten Hag brought his compatriot to United for €42.5m, to be paid over three years. He has a contract with the Premier League club which is valid until 2029, with an option for an extra year in a deal worth €3.5m net per season.

The report claims that Zirkzee could leave United sooner than expected. The hiring of Ruben Amorim from Sporting CP to replace Ten Hag means that another striker might be requested, with Viktor Gyokeres an obvious link.

Italian clubs who had already been keeping an eye on Zirkzee in the summer (like Milan) are watching Zirkzee closely. After scoring only one goal in 16 games played for United, a move back to Serie A – league that he knows well and thrived in – could be beneficial for all involved.

Tags AC Milan Joshua Zirkzee

11 Comments

  1. One goal in 16 matches, LOL, for someone who was supposed to be great. Also, apparently he managed to cancel two goals his companions were about to score: in both occasions the ball was already going in without any need for extra help, but he wanted to put a finishing touch on them and kicked them in; however he was offsides in both occasions, which made those goals be disallowed; they would have stood if he hadn’t done that, and the fans were furious. One of these games, his blunder cost ManU a victory which then was only a draw, and in another one, it cost them a draw that become a defeat. So, they dropped 3 additional points because of Zirkzee.

    Talk about an overrated player! The easiest way to see that he is not as good as advertised, is the fact that his former coach at Bologna, Thiago Motta, did not want him signed by Motta’s new club Juventus. That is very telling, and very disqualifying.

    Maybe he is better than Abraham and Jovic; maybe he is an option for backup. But the downsides get even bigger when we consider that he’s got a greedy agent who would be a pain in the neck at the time of a possible signing AND the time of a possible renewal.

    So, no. Let’s stay away. We dodged a bullet.

    1. Maybe due to the fact that Juventus didn’t seek (or need) for any striker last window? As the matter of fact, they didn’t sign any striker. Different case if they signed a striker (with more or less the same valuation with Zirkzee) and left him out of the equation.

  2. The easiest way to see that he is not as good as advertised, is the fact that his former coach at Bologna, Thiago Motta, did not want him signed by Motta’s new club Juventus. That is very telling, and very disqualifying.

    This. Thank you @Luigi

  3. I still think he can be developed into a great player. How many times do we see a transfer that simply just didn’t work. The closest example is CdK, who fared a much worst performance on his Milan spell.

    Ones who always say that he only performed a season wonder should really look into his past background. He already performed wonder thru his youth at Bayern u17, u19, and Bayern II. On Anderlecht, he was the top scorer.

    1. He MIGHT become a great player, but we already have our hands full with “potential good players” (Musah, Thiaw, Camarda, Pavlovic, Bartesaghi,….).
      This is not a kindergarden where we always have to pick the young ones to develop them, at some point we’ve got to pick already developed players.
      Honestly, I’m so glad we’ve got Morata over him. Aside from the fact that he has more years in him than Morata, I see literally zero advantages in picking Zirkzee over Morata, at least for now.

      1. The influence morata is having on Carmada can’t be ignored. If Milan can offload Tammy and Jovic in January I wouldn’t mind zirkee as he can drop to 10 and allow morata play upfront. His physicality in the middle of the pack will be a better advantage than having rlc in that position. Just that his agent sucks.

        1. Honestly if we were to drop Tammy and Jovic, I’d rather see us getting a striker who can strike, we already have too many players than need 10 chances to score a tap-in.

  4. What’s funny here is that many of those who were clamoring for zirkzee to come and were singing both his and the management praises, on how good he is or how he was going to transform Milan attacking phase and usher in a lot of goals are now been emotional and calling him a one season wonder or one season flop.

    Bunch of hypocrites. Like it’s not understandable that zirkzee is having a rough patch now and could become great later. Heck they would change their mouths to singing his praises later if he comes through on his talent.

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