New Delhi: When Joshua Zirkzee first arrived at Old Trafford, he made an immediate impression by scoring in the 1-0 victory over Fulham in August. However, the 23-year-old has struggled ever since, failing to increase his total. In fact, since the end of September, Zirkzee has not started a Premier League match for United, and speculation about his future has started to surface.
According to a report earlier this month, Corriere dello Sport has confirmed that Serie A powerhouse Juventus are mulling a move for the Dutch forward. As the Old Lady looks for attacking reinforcements, they say that Kia Joorabchian, Zirkzee’s agent, is in discussions with Cristiano Giuntoli, the director of Juventus, about a possible transfer.
Will Amorim involve Zirkzee in his plans?
🚨 Joshua Zirkzee is ‘starting to regret’ his decision to move to Manchester United and has been tipped to return to Italy, where both Juventus and AC Milan want to sign him on loan.
(Source: Calciomercato) pic.twitter.com/DMhPrlHzZJ
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) October 22, 2024
Ever since Zirkzee made his move to Manchester United, there were big hopes as the Dutch forward had every attributes to be the next big thing in Premier League. A forward with good physicality and a strong nose for goal made him a top buy for the Red Devils. Fresh off from a wonderful season with Bologna, the Dutch international was up for the task and readu to deliver the goods under Erik Ten Hag, but eventually he couldn’t capitalise and grow on the good start to his life in Manchester.
With the managerial change, it seems less likely that Ruben Amorim will be willing to try him out, as Zirkzee barely started any games since the beginning of the season. With just four starts to his name this season, Zirkzee has been brought on from the bench more often. However, even as a super-sub, the Dutch has rather disappointing stats to his name with just two goal contributions. He has been called from the bench on eight ocassions and to be fair, he has not produced the goods that everyone expected of him.
However, if we talk about Amorim’s plans for the future, there is a high possibility that the Portuguese is going to prefer Hojlund over the Dutch international. Amorim’s first game saw Zirkzee come onto the pitch for just 22 minutes, where he barely had time to prove himself. With Rashford scoring the first goal of Amorim’s era, there might be a case where we see Amorim using him as an alternative centre forward. All of this raises questions if Amorim would be willing to keep Zirkzee as a “centre forward option” in the squad, which is the Duthman’s natural position on the pitch.
Should Zirkzee agree to move for his development?
❌🇳🇱 Zirkzee is NOT happy at Manchester United.
He wants to leave in January and asked his agents to find him a new club.
They’ve proposed him to Juventus who need a striker and could reunite with Thiago Motta.
📰 La Stampa pic.twitter.com/a7QI0iuIDi
— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) November 21, 2024
There are questions everywhere and one of the major ones would certainly be “what would be the best options for Zirkzee?”. Should the Dutchman move away from Old Trafford for his further development?, or should he stay at the club in order to get the his opportunities, and prove his worth?
With Juventus planning to have talks with Manchester United for a potential transfer for Zirkzee, it might just be Zirkzee’s call if he wants to join the Turin club. However, it may not turn out to be the best option for the Dutch forward, despite the fact that he knows the league and the style of football in Italy well, as manager Thiago Motta might prefer him as a replacement of injured Dusan Vlahovic, who might return early in the next month.
With nine goals in all competitions, the Serbian forward has had a more than decent start to his camapaign, which suggests that Zirkzee will have to do something special to impress Motta yet again, in case he joins the Old Lady. The duo were together at Bologna last season, and Motta is well aware of the abilities that the forward has. It is a precarious situation for Joshua Zirkzee as at the age of 23, the Dutch has a lot of growing up to do and he needs those precious minutes on the pitch thayt may do wonders for him.
Given that Joshua Zirkzee has fallen short of expectations since signing from Bologna, Manchester United may already be willing to sell the forward with Juventus showing interests Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
