Manchester United succumbed to their fourth straight loss on Monday as Newcastle claimed a comfortable 2-0 win at Old Trafford.
The team does not look capable of carrying out Ruben Amorim’s instructions and INEOS’ decision to back Erik ten Hag summer looks even worse in hindsight.
The recruitment was aimed keeping in mind the former Dutch manager’s counter-attacking style of play while INEOS panicked and brought in a coach with the polar opposite brand of football.
His style involves playing with two No 10s alongside an elite striker but against the Magpies, Amorim was forced to play Joshua Zirkzee as one of the attacking midfielders in the absence of the suspended Bruno Fernandes.
Zirkzee likely to leave in January
The experiment ended in failure and the Netherlands international was subbed off to ironic cheers from the home crowd after 33 minutes.
That brutal call might signal the end of the Dutch forward’s stay in Manchester with three Serie A clubs including his former club Bologna fighting for his signature in January.
As revealed by Tuttosport, Juventus, currently managed by former Bologna boss Thiago Motta, are desperate for attacking reinforcements and Motta wants his former protege to join him.
However, the Turin-based outfit have no intention of paying over the odds and are looking at a loan deal with an option to buy if certain conditions like qualifying for the Champions League is met.
Juventus looking at loan deal
“The path that leads to Joshua Zirkzee is more open than ever and, hopefully, can be traveled with acceleration after January 6. The signs are encouraging for now because the Dutchman continues not to convince at Manchester United.
“It will be difficult, however, to immediately recover the 50 million investment for Zirkzee, at least not from Juventus who, in fact, are working on a onerous loan with a right of redemption tied to certain conditions (qualification for the next Champions League, for example, is essential).”
With Marcus Rashford’s future also up in the air and Rasmus Hojlund also struggling, Amorim will need reinforcements before green lighting an exit.
A loan with an option to buy would not be the ideal solution for the Red Devils as they need to raise money through player sales in order to recruit this January. It will be intriguing to see if INEOS accept such a proposal.
Feature image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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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
