Journalist Reveals That Man Utd Have Rejected Chance To Sign Former La Liga Top Scorer In “Swap” Deal

BACK Man Utd have turned down the opportunity to sign Roma striker Artem Dovbyk, according to reports. Journalist Enrico Camelio claims that the Ukrainian international was offered to the Red Devils in exchange for Joshua Zirkzee, but the forward wasn’t a player Ruben Amorim wanted: “There’s not a lot of money [for Roma], even for the next transfer window. One name that’s been circulating is [Joshua] Zirkzee. He would be an incredible upgrade. Manchester [United] doesn’t want [Artem] Dovbyk and so no swap. Let’s wait.” It remains to be seen if Roma will propose a different type of deal for Zirkzee. The Giallorossi are clearly very keen on the Dutchman so a loan offer could still be lodged over the coming weeks. Why did Man Utd reject Dovbyk? The 28-year-old was La Liga’s top scorer during the 2023/24 season, having found the back of the net 24 times for Girona. He beat the likes of Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski to the Pichichi trophy. However, since moving to Roma for €30.5m in August last year, Dovbyk hasn’t been able to hit those numbers. He scored 12 goals in Serie A last season, while this campaign, he has managed just 2 in 9 appearances so far. Another factor that may have put off United is that the Ukrainian is a specialist target man, while Zirkzee has a lot more in his locker. What is the latest on Zirkzee’s future? Fabrizio Romano has revealed that West Ham have already had an enquiry knocked back for the 24-year-old, with Amorim said to be looking to keep his current squad together in January. However, Zirkzee is keen on getting more first-team football. He hasn’t started a single game this season, and he knows that he will have to play on a more regular basis if he is to stand any chance of being named in the Netherlands squad for the World Cup. Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World’s Football News Network.