Joshua Zirkzee has played 699 minutes of football for Manchester United, less than eight full games.
Such is the pressure at the club, speculation is already rife that the Dutchman is a bad fit and that both the club and player are unhappy.
He has lost his place in the Netherlands national team and is a shadow of the star who lit up Serie A last season in a magnificent Bologna side who led the league for much of the season.
The latest report of concern over the 23 year old’s position at United comes from The MEN, who write that “Some senior club figures have concluded striker Zirkzee, who has scored one goal in 17 games, is not good enough four months on from his £36.5million transfer from Bologna.”
Zirkzee has not scored since his debut but there are a number of mitigating factors in the scenario which do suggest that some patience might be required.
First, he was brought into a United team that as a whole was bereft of confidence and struggling to produce any sort of coherent performance under the then manager, Erik ten Hag.
He was also not given a consistent run in the team and had missed virtually the whole of pre-season.
When he has played, it has tended to be as the lone striker when he is more of a number 10. Even in his standout year at Bologna, he was not a prolific goalscorer, netting just 12 times in 37 games.
Good players do not become bad players overnight and it will be interesting to see the effect that new manager Ruben Amorim has on Zirkzee both in terms of confidence and in regard to position and role within the team.
It should also be remembered that patience has often been required with new forwards at United, with some taking quite some time to find their feet at the club.
For example, legendary goalscorer Andy Cole only scored in three of his first 12 games for the club – playing the full 90 minutes each time in a successful side including Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes – having been virtually unstoppable for Newcastle United previously.
On the other hand, should things not improve, such is the mark Zirkzee left on Serie A that there would be no shortage of suitors to take him back to Italy at the end of the season – or even in January – without United losing too much of the amount spent to acquire his services.
Feature image Srdjan Stevanovic via Getty Images
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Red Billy
Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
