Against Spurs over the weekend, Manchester United led twice before being pushed back. Despite this, Erik ten Hag, the manager, will be happy to see some life from an offence that only scored more than one goal seven times in 21 Premier League games this season.

United still has the fewest goals (24) of any team in the league’s top 13, and they have the worst goal differential (-5) of any team in the top 11. This is despite an improved performance. £72 million summer acquisition With just 16 league games under his belt, Rasmus Hojlund has only managed two goals, thus United would be well to add another striker to relieve some of the strain on him. It appears that those initiatives are already in motion.

United contacts regarding Zirkzee

Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sport Germany reports that Joshua Zirkzee at Bologna is the subject of an inquiry from United. Given his performance this season, Old Trafford’s recruitment staff has “a high opinion” of Zirkzee and has him marked as a target for 2024.

Ten-Hag, Zirkzee-Man-Utd-Bologna
During the winter window, “talks took place” about a potential deal, but the Red Devils found out that “Bologna won’t let him go.” But by summer, things might be different because a release clause worth €40 million, or roughly £34 million, is likely to expire.

“Graceful” Zirkzee adds a professional touch to United

Zirkzee enrolled in Bayern’s academy in 2017 and moved to Bologna in 2022 after taking loans at Parma and Anderlecht. Despite having a modest debut season—he only played five league games and scored two goals—he is having a breakthrough year in 2023–2024. Before receiving a yellow card suspension for the previous game, he had started every league game and scored seven goals while setting up two more.

The “very graceful” Zirkzee is “not normal,” according to his compatriot Rafael van der Vaart, and European football expert Alex Barker has cautioned that if he reaches his full potential, he’ll be a “terrifying” proposition. Zach Lowy, a journalist, believes he’ll be “one hell of a bargain” if he departs for £34 million.

Rank

Top goal scorers in Serie A

Objectives

1.

Martinez Lautaro

18

2.

Giroud Olivier

10

=3

Berardi Domenico, Calhanoglu Hakan

9.

=4

Albert Gudmunsson, Matias Soule, Romelu Lukaku, and Marcus Thuram

8

= 5

Joshua Zirkzee, Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Dusan Vlahovic, and Andrea Pinamonti

7.

The figures show why. The 22-year-old is one of the most productive forwards in Serie A this season, as the table above shows. With an xG of just 4.5, he has scored seven goals, indicating the lack of clinical touch that United urgently needs.

A player of the month for both November and December in Serie A, it appears only a matter of time until he gets called up to the senior Dutch national team. He still has time to make the squad for Euro 2024.

Bayern, his old team, negotiated a 50% sell-on provision as part of the selling agreement with Bologna, thus United needs to be cautious. This implies that they can repurchase him for €20 million, and given that they could resell him for a healthy profit, they may consider it to be a wise financial decision.