Joshua Zirkzee has yet to make an appearance for Manchester United, but that won’t stop people questioning the Netherlands international.
The former Bayern Munich and Bologna forward put pen to paper on a five-year contract at United.
Zirkzee, 23, cost the club £36.5m and arrived as Erik ten Hag’s first signing of the summer.
The Dutch forward attracted interest from United as well as AC Milan following a successful season in Serie A, scoring 11 league goals and leading Bologna to Champions League qualification.
That form wasn’t enough to convince Ronald Koeman to select Zirkzee for the initial 26-man Netherlands squad for Euro 2024. However, injuries led to the forward eventually being called up for the tournament.
Zirkzee featured predominately as a substitute and only made a couple of appearances.
Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke claims Zirkzee’s transfer raises a ‘red flag’ because former United loanee Wout Weghorst was ahead of him in the national team pecking order.
Yorke also has doubts over the signing of Leny Yoro.
“Manchester United are bringing in Leny Yoro and asking an 18-year-old to come in at such a difficult time and asking them to help rasie your own level,” Yorke said, as per the Manchester Evening News. “The Premier League is the toughest place to sort of apply your trade for the first time.
“Then you’ve got Joshua Zirkzee, who seems to have a decent season with Bologna and could make an impact, but you have to ask why he is not a starter for Holland.
“That’s a red flag for me when you come in at United for that sort of fee. In recent years the club have brought in middle-of-the-road players rather than the creme de la creme players that they should be getting.
“United should be signing the very best players in Holland and the best players in whatever national team they are playing for. United are not in the position to do that anymore and it worries me.
“I’m not saying the kid is not a good player. I’m not saying that he definitely can’t go and light up the Premier League, but why is he not playing in the Holland first team?
“Is he great for Bologna but he’s not good for the Holland national team? Does that mean he can’t be that great for United? But we can only judge him on that at the end of the season.”
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Dwight Yorke you did your part at Man Utd while everyone doubted your ability. Stop being negative. We wont waste our time listening to your nonsense
Definitely he’s always negative, we are trying to build a young team for the future! The rest is unto the coach
Stop the negative talk yorkie ten hag knows what he is doing