Manchester United will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup quarter-final when they face high-flying Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.
Ruben Amorim, who was guilty of making too many changes in midweek, should pick his strongest eleven against the Cherries with Joshua Zirkzee making a strong case for his inclusion from the start.
The Dutchman produced an impressive cameo against Spurs, including scoring a goal in the second half, and was by far more dangerous than the ineffective Rasmus Hojlund.
After a tough start to life in Manchester, which included only one goal from 18 games back when Erik ten Hag was in charge, the former Bologna ace now has three goals in December under the Portuguese.
Zirkzee resurgence
The 23-year-old has been linked with an exit with his agent expected to have a talk with the club hierarchy regarding his client’s future with Juventus keen on a move.
Thiago Motta, formerly of Bologna, is now in charge of the Turin outfit and as per Sportmediaset (via Tutto Juve), he wants his former protege to join him at the Juventus Stadium in January.
The Bianconeri are struggling is sixth place in Serie A and are looking for more firepower upfront and the United summer signing fits the bill.
“Joshua Zirkzee, a 2001-born striker for Manchester United and the Dutch national team, continues to be among Juventus’ favourites to strengthen their attack in January.
Motta wants Juve to sign Zirkzee
“According to “Sportmediaset”, the operation would be sponsored in particular by Thiago Motta: the Juventus coach, in fact, would like to have Zirkzee, already trained in Bologna, back under his command in Turin.
“He is convinced that he can help the team both technically and tactically. We will know more in the next few days, when the market will get into full swing.”
When he was finding chances hard to come by, the striker was mulling over returning to Italy but given his resurgence under Amorim, the player’s mind is likely to have changed.
Zirkzee finally seems to be coming to grips as a United player and there is no way that the 20-time English league champions will sanction an exit so soon into his United career having paid £36.5 million last summer.
Feature image Alex Pantling via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
