Manchester United have made two summer signings thus far, with three-and-a-half weeks of the window now remaining.
While fans are harbouring concerns over certain depleted positions in the squad, they have been impressed with the calibre of the club’s only arrivals – particularly Leny Yoro, who had quickly become one of the most sought-after defensive prospects in Europe after garnering interest from Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.
As for Joshua Zirkzee, he’ll be well aware that he faces a battle to start over Rasmus Hojlund in the centre-forward role – although he has divulged his capability of playing as a false-nine or dropping down to midfield, adding that he’s “not a traditional No.9 or No.10”.
He’ll likely be awarded chances to showcase his abilities from the get-go due to Hojlund’s injury setback; the Dane sustained a hamstring complaint against Arsenal on the pre-season tour and now faces around six weeks on the sidelines.
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Therefore, we may see Zirkzee make his debut as early as this Saturday when United get their season underway with the Community Shield Final vs Manchester City.
Former Red Michael Owen has weighed in on United’s incomings up until this stage, and while he is of the belief that Zirkzee can come good long-term, he has reservations over whether he was what Erik ten Hag needed at this stage.
Owen gives his twopence
“Joshua Zirkzee could be an important player for Manchester United, but it will be really interesting at the start of the new season to see if they are going to adapt to a certain style of play,” Owen told Casino Hawks, cited by the Metro.
”Zirkzee doesn’t look prolific in terms of goals, but what is for sure is that Manchester United needed bolstering in that position. You look back at the great United teams [and] they had four top strikers at times. Manchester United have just had a dearth of goal-scorers in recent years, so bringing in a talented player won’t go amiss there.
“The next step will just be to wait and see how he does, but at some point, Manchester United are going to need somebody who’s going to bang in plenty of goals like they’ve had with Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney as well as others down the years.
“At the moment, you can only look at what Zirkzee has done so far and watch this space with him – it isn’t just having another body of quality up there, but I think it will be a positive for Manchester United.
“At the moment, the manager can hardly change things up there a lot of the time, especially with all the injuries that they have had. If it hasn’t been working, then there hasn’t been much to bring on to change. So another body is great, but even though it’s an exciting signing, we need to hold fire and see how he settles in.”
