Joshua Zirkzee image 11

Joshua Zirkzee Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances

View full 2024-25 profile

4.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Goals
4
Assists
2
Yellow cards
1
Marwood said:
The moment was harsh.

BUT...having somehow lucked out on getting a move to United he didn't bother with pre season, was unfit at start of season and has since strolled about the place, dodged his duals etc.

It's just not on.
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Please explain.
 
Had my doubts about him from day one. I hadn’t seen him play a lot before joining us, but I knew that someone who was behind Depay and Weghorst in the pecking order for Holland is definitely not the standard we need.

After seeing him play, this got confirmed. He isn’t a 9 (a position we were supposedly strengthening with this signing) and is below average playing behind the striker. He seems lost on the pitch.

I hope we sell him and he does well wherever he goes.
 
He’s made for Italy and needs to return there ASAP. He doesn’t have the speed or physicality to play in England or Germany and he isn’t technical enough for Spain. Seems like a nice enough kid but doesn’t have the quality for this league. Italian football is more his speed.
 
santeria13 said:
I found this clip deeply disturbing way back when we signed him but ignored it and hoped for the best. One of the worst misses I've seen in my lifetime and so far at United, that kinda sums up his time here. Worst player I have ever seen play for us in my 20 years of following.

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He's the guy from this clip?! I just found out about that. Why the hell did we buy him? A lackadaisical player rarely works out at United.
 
I was at the game last night, a Zirkzee was That Bad, I don’t recall one single pass that he controlled, or where he did not put us under pressure when there was no need. He was dire, and I think his body language / attitude was pretty bad, that said, I think he bore the brunt of the fans anger, as any one of those players should have been hauled off. Casemiro was as bad if not worse, and this is an elite level player who should know better. Every single player looked nervous and did not want the ball, at least Zirkzee tried, he ran, he was just poor. This team look’s bereft of any confidence at all.
 
sirAlexsglasses said:
I was at the game last night, a Zirkzee was That Bad, I don’t recall one single pass that he controlled, or where he did not put us under pressure when there was no need. He was dire, and I think his body language / attitude was pretty bad, that said, I think he bore the brunt of the fans anger, as any one of those players should have been hauled off. Casemiro was as bad if not worse, and this is an elite level player who should know better. Every single player looked nervous and did not want the ball, at least Zirkzee tried, he ran, he was just poor. This team look’s bereft of any confidence at all.
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Are you sure Zirkzee even tried and ran? I saw different Zirkzee, I remember for sure he was lazy today. He wasn’t just very very bad on the ball but also off the ball.
 
He looks terrible, if we could somehow swap him for Douglas Luiz to bolster the midfield, I’d be happy.
 
At first I thought he just doesn't give a damn but assuming his reaction was geniune after getting off maybe he's just not good enough which begets the question how he's ended up in this situation in the first place.

It's just hard to wrap your head around.
 
I am surprised a new signing was treated like this mid season. He is not good enough, but that was harsh. He is not the reason we are in this mess. Half our squad is as useless at this point.
 
Feel bad for the guy. I don't think he deserved to be singled out. We've had far worse performers escape the crowd booing them. Football fans are fickle though, score the winner at anfield and all will be forgiven.
 
It was a Diaby at Arsenal level performance. Couldn't control the ball, couldn't pass the ball, didn't run off the ball. Apart from pelting the ball into his own net on repeat I can't think of much he could have done to have made it a worse performance.

He was rightfully booed off the pitch, the only shame is that Casemiro didn't get hooked with him.
 
Stig said:
Please explain.
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He didn't do pre season. I know technically he was entitled to miss it having been on international duty. Plenty on this forum are fiercely defensive about that.

But it's upto the individual isn't it? He barely played for Holland in the summer, got a move to United, didn't do pre season. Then turned up unfit. Looking at him he's a guy who needs plenty of training.

As I say, he had that option to miss pre season and chose to do so. At the time I didn't like it, in the same way I didn't like it when Sancho did the same.
 
Feel bad for the guy. He's been dreadful and is clearly not suited to the league, but nobody wants to see that last night.
 
Felt bad for him, but he didn't look like a professional footballer last night. There's been too many games where he has simply looked woeful and like this isn't his sport.

I was hoping he could turn it around, but I'd be impressed and surprised if he can come back from yesterday.
 
People are too focused on his performance. Being shit is forgivable, being a lazy mfer is unforgivable.
 
I feel for the guy to be honest. If this was an established team with a good forward line, then taking a punt on a player like him would hardly matter. We'd take a look at him in cup games and 10 minute league cameos, where the outcome of the game didnt matter. Then, if we find he isn't up to snuff, we just move him on, no damage done. Its not his fault that the club is so badly run that we're relying on him to save our season.
 
We need to avoid any thing from the Netherlands again: players and staff, unless they are already proven in the league.
We’ve bought some duds over the last few years under ETH but feck me this lad is rubbish. Felt sorry for him last night but hopefully it’s pushed him into calling his agent to force a move. Doubt he’ll play again for months as his confidence will be shot (Amorin should shoulder the blame for last night though).
 
There's no coming back from this. Only a player with the mental fortitude of Ronaldo could.
 
Lu Tze said:
No, he's been crap for them. Could be a win/win.
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So he can come here in bad form and get rinsed to oblivion? We need to decrease the toxicity and make integration into the club a more thought out, planned and prepared thing before we concentrate on the next batch of signings. I think their are probably a lot of improvements we can make there....
 
afrocentricity said:
So he can come here in bad form and get rinsed to oblivion? We need to decrease the toxicity and make integration into the club a more thought out, planned and prepared thing before we concentrate on the next batch of signings. I think their are probably a lot of improvements we can make there....
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It's more that Zirkzee is clearly well adapted to, and respected in Serie A, while vice versa for Douglas Luiz in the prem. I can see the logic in the move.

I want to see Zirkzee succeed but we need to be ruthless rather than sentimental, that's part of what has held us back these years, the desire for signings to always "come good, just one more year" - no, let's make moves and if players don't perform well, move on while they still have value.
 
Yeah that was a rough watch last night.
Everything he tried didn't come off
There was a pass to think it was Hojlund? and he would've been through but couldn't even pull that off!
I remember his first cameo and he was pretty tidy.
Had some nice touches and looked promising.
Seemed to have typically regressed from there.
Booing him was harsh though.
Doubt he comes back from that.
 
united for life said:
Had my doubts about him from day one. I hadn’t seen him play a lot before joining us, but I knew that someone who was behind Depay and Weghorst in the pecking order for Holland is definitely not the standard we need.

After seeing him play, this got confirmed. He isn’t a 9 (a position we were supposedly strengthening with this signing) and is below average playing behind the striker. He seems lost on the pitch.

I hope we sell him and he does well wherever he goes.
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That's pretty damning considering the state of that team currently. He looked very limited last night and looked lost expecially when receiving the ball when being pressed.
 
AkaAkuma said:
Juve and Motta seem like the cleanest exit. I would assume a player swap would be the fastest way for us to recoup the value as i think he’s a 12mo. Project to get back on his feet.
I cannot see him going over there on a 6mo loan which results in a 35m transfer agreement in the summer.

Therefore Douglas Luiz and pray both teams get a more appropriate player?
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A loan swap would feel super logical. Zirkzee is 6 months removed from being a star in Motta's Bologna team, Douglas was a mainstay of a very good midfield at Villa only last season too.

It feels so straightforward that you can be 100% sure it won't happen.
 
kouroux said:
It's only at Man Utd you hear these nonsensical stories
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It’s true, we’re a circus when it comes to stories like this, but you have to wonder if that was the best preparation for a lad who’s moving to a new league. Perhaps he just wasn’t expecting to be in the firing line any time soon? Slowly adapt over the season or something
 
it was just a weird signing from the get go. Everyone talked about needing another striker in the summer and we get Zirkzee, who has looked lost wherever he has played.

He’s too slow and cumbersome and we’ve been repeatedly told ‘he’s not that sort of player’ but will link play and hold up the ball and yet the ball bounces off him like a balloon and he struggles to find a teammate with the simplest pass.

Nowt against the kid and don’t agree either booing but he’s clearly never going to be good enough. I’d bite an Italian teams hand off if we could get close to our money back.
 
Zirkzee took the flak for our rubbish defending from crosses. Once we were 2 down, the crowd just needed a fall guy to direct their ire. He was rubbish last night, but the booing made me sad as a United fan.
 
The boos and jeers last night left a bad taste in my mouth, that was bad form by our fans.

He was shocking, so so poor, but no one should get that from their own fans. He's a young kid still finding his feet at the club, not someone whos been here years like some of the previous jokers.

I cant see him playing again after that, surely thats a sign to Amorim he cant play in this system, or just isnt good enough, even if he is still in the squad, he probably wouldnt want to play for us again after that treatment.
 
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Can't be fun being substituted and booed of the pitch but that would never happened if he tried harder. Show some intensity and passion, fight for your place. He's been questioned for that and nothing changed.
If he had the right mentality and really wanted to be here you would see an reaction from him, trying harder.

I don't care if he misplace passes and fail things as long as he give 100%.
Show some passion and fight for a place in the team. Win the fans over and try.
That reaction from the crowd was a built up frustration of him looking lazy and unbothered.
If you earn that kind of money and play for the biggest club in the world you should give everything you have.
If not, good bye. Go cry in the tunnel and feel sorry for yourself but it doesn't matter. We want, or Amorim wants warriors with the right mentality.
 
This will be unpopular but I'm glad the crowd were booing. United fans have been patient and supportive for years, despite not getting value for money with these players, and where did it get us? With players like Rashford taking the piss pulling in sickies for training and not putting an effort out there on the field. With players just happy enough to stay for their paychecks, despite being not up to standard like Lindelof. With players like Varane and Casemiro who come to the club for one last pay day.

Something needs to change. There's a thread about rose tinted glasses here somewhere. Well maybe we should take those off and be rid of all these sentimentality. Zirkzee got booed? Boo hoo, there are actual regular people who used to work at the club who lost their jobs because players like him have underperformed for so long.
 
NinjaZombie said:
This will be unpopular but I'm glad the crowd were booing. United fans have been patient and supportive for years, despite not getting value for money with these players, and where did it get us?
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As long as they don't just pick the easiest targets like a young guy that has been here for only 4 months I agree. There are many that deserve it way more
 
Feel sorry for him. Hes been at the club less than half a season and the fans have already made up their minds. In a more functional team he would just be taken out of the spotlight for a few weeks and given some time to build up his confidence. He is clearly a player that needs confidence, and I hope Amorim is putting his arm around him now - the classy thing to do now would be to come out and take the heat in public, regardless of what is said behind closed doors.

As it is, I am guessing he gets a loan in January. I hope he finds his form and confidence again. This club has become incredibly toxic in a lot of ways - and this is just one more example of players getting scapegoated and abused by so-called fans, same way as Fellaini, Maguire and McTominay did before. Pathetic.
 
Godfather said:
As long as they don't just pick the easiest targets like a young guy that has been here for only 4 months I agree. There are many that deserve it way more
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In footballing terms he's not that young. He's a 1/3 of the way through his career. It's like pulling a 35 year old in an office job during their performance management for being consistently shit for 3 months
 
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