I honestly don't think this will be done until after Netherlands is out of the Euros. Even if he agrees to leave there's more negatives than positives to drop the news at the moment.
Joshua Zirkzee | signed for Manchester United
- Thread starter Hansi Fick
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Salah didn't play against us when he was at Basel.
Its said to be 34m + 8m = 42m. I think its a fair price for a young striker whose not a mere cover for Hojlund and might suit our system more then he does
I thought we’d be looking at signing a CB before anyone els.
You're probably thinking of Shaqiri. I remember a lot of people raving about his performance against us when we last played Basel. He went on to join Munich after that season. Salah joined Basel after Shaqiri left so I'm guessing he was a direct replacement haha
You're absolutely right, I'm getting my decade or so old memories mixed up, that'll teach me. Sorry and cheers!
Don't think it needs to be in any order. We need a CB and we'll get one.
If he's got some real talent then yeah, that's the kind of price we should limit ourselves to.
Is it just a coincidence that he is Dutch?
Would we be still trying to buy him if we had Tuchel or McKenna as the manager now?
I'm just trying to understand why we would go down this route again if we are trying to create a sqaud that doesn't need rebuilding everytime we sack a manager.
Would we be still trying to buy him if we had Tuchel or McKenna as the manager now?
I'm just trying to understand why we would go down this route again if we are trying to create a sqaud that doesn't need rebuilding everytime we sack a manager.
His profile and price work within new transfer model. It's nothing to do with him being Dutch.
A massively underwhelming striker signing. We need a prolific goalscorer to compliment Hojlund and this guys numbers look average.
I’ve watched him 3 times for Bologna and been underwhelmed on each occasion.
He’d be good for Hojlund in a two but I don’t see it in Zirkzee as a lone striker and barely anyone plays with 2 up top now.
He’d be good for Hojlund in a two but I don’t see it in Zirkzee as a lone striker and barely anyone plays with 2 up top now.
Something about this guy screams not good enough.
How ever you look at it, he's not playing for Holland
Was binned off at Bayern
His goals and assists are less than .5 a game
Now people might tell me, but thats not his game, but he is a striker, or is he a number 10.
With him, it feels like we'd go into games without an out and out striker to fit him in, or would surely have to drop Bruno, or shoehorn him on the right to fit Zirkzee in that number 10 position.
For him to work, surely we'd need to pair him with a Salah and Mane, like Firminho was, rather than our wingers that aren't that prolific.
I dunno, he just screams, low buyout clause as his only real selling point
How ever you look at it, he's not playing for Holland
Was binned off at Bayern
His goals and assists are less than .5 a game
Now people might tell me, but thats not his game, but he is a striker, or is he a number 10.
With him, it feels like we'd go into games without an out and out striker to fit him in, or would surely have to drop Bruno, or shoehorn him on the right to fit Zirkzee in that number 10 position.
For him to work, surely we'd need to pair him with a Salah and Mane, like Firminho was, rather than our wingers that aren't that prolific.
I dunno, he just screams, low buyout clause as his only real selling point
It does if we don’t make many sales as we don’t have much to spend as it is.
I'm pretty sure they are aware of what needs to be done and how they can do it
Is he sort of like Firmino?
Doesn't make sense to me. We're a team that struggles to score and already has Bruno playing in the pockets as a creative midfielder. His highlights and stats make him look like another Gabriel Jesus and I'm sure people wouldn't be that excited if we were linked with him.
Hojlund is a blunt instrument for half of the season and you never know what Rashford you're going to get. This team needs goals from any striker we're going to sign not a player who scored 9 non penalty goals in Serie A last season.
We need creativity too but I'd prefer that in a winger and us get a striker who actually puts the ball in the fecking net.
Hojlund is a blunt instrument for half of the season and you never know what Rashford you're going to get. This team needs goals from any striker we're going to sign not a player who scored 9 non penalty goals in Serie A last season.
We need creativity too but I'd prefer that in a winger and us get a striker who actually puts the ball in the fecking net.
Failing to get excited.
You should hope so considering they’re meant to be professionals. Who can also be clueless and make bad decisions.
disagree. You need goals to come from anyone, dominate opposition and create more chances in general. When you have an option of a striker who can put Rashford, Garnacho and the like in front of the keeper, i think you score more than when you get a striker who relies on crosses to come in from players that don't cross.
I must be one of the few who actually rate Gabriel Jesus.
I agree. We certainly need a creative winger on one of the sides. Højlund is starved of service and so would any other goalscoring ST we sign unless we fix the winger issue and having someone who can create out wide. Other than sancho all our other wide players want to cut in and shoot all the time. Zirkzee probably makes sense in terms of making us play better as we did play our best football with Martial up front.
Maybe but we’ve seen Rashford and Garnacho miss some easy chances. They ain’t as clinical so either of them won’t make up the numbers of goals we need to be challenging.
Do you know of any prolific goalscorers that are gettable & affordable?
I agree. If we somehow get both Højlund and Zirkzee in the same team, I also think we might score quite a few goals due to turnovers high in the pitch. A functioning system can sometimes be what it takes to lift players from good to really good, and having more players that are comfortable with a high press might help us in that regard. I also think Mount could have a role in a team like that.
I also think people who expect us to sign someone to be a starter instead of Højlund this window need to think about what our goals are this window. Are we signing players for a title challenge next season, or are we looking to build a squad that can challenge in two-three years? We need squad depth, and we need players that can offer us some tactical flexibility. Zirkzee offers both those things. Is he a guarantee for goals? No, but he is affordable, young and has considerable upside (felxibilty, potential for a sale down the line if things doesn't work out as intended) in a window where we need to get bodies in and our budget is not the biggest. I think we need to mentally adjust to where we are this window, i.e. budget, the fact that we finished eight and where we are with the new ownership and new structures being put in place behind the scenes.
If we can get Nico Williams and Rashford running the channels next to him, we’ll have a very good team. Add Garnacho and Amad in rotation.
I’ve always liked the idea of Zirkzee, the closet player to Martial in playing style bar Ivan Toney.
I’ve always liked the idea of Zirkzee, the closet player to Martial in playing style bar Ivan Toney.
No but I’d rather we didn’t waste money when we are on such a limited budget on a striker that’s goalscoring record is not great.
Are you telling me that the only option at that valuation is another average Dutch player?
A striker with only 42 goals from 158 career appearances doesnt really seem like the kind of player we should be signing when we really need someone who can score regurlarly but he is still only 23 and has the potential to improve a lot and there isnt really anyone else available within our budget.
Can players do medical while away on international duty or will it be a case of agreeing a fee with the club and then waiting until they come home from the euros.
I have to agree. He wouldn’t even be in the Holland squad without the 2 injuries that got him a late call up I mean he’s behind Weghorst in the pecking order. I’m not an expert on this player so maybe I’m missing something but his goal record is abysmal as well.
£34m plus his agent fee will see this deal approaching £45-50m mark it seems a bit ridiculous
Shocked about the negativity. Considering we need to rebuild the defence and midfield this summer. For 34 million in todays market is a good deal. Rather pay that than £65 million for Toney.
Can't claim to have seen much of him. From the bits that I've seen and from what I've read, then it's not an exciting signing in terms of his goals, or one that's a guaranteed success. But it might well prove to be a sensible and solid signing which, given our funds and lack of elite available strikers out there, would be a smart piece of business if so.
It's difficult to know exactly whose running the transfer business at the moment, and how much, if any, input the gardening leave members can offer - but hopefully this summer starts us making sensible signings because they'll improve us in needed ways - and not just reactionary ones that don't really help the balance or make up of the team.
If Zirkzee is deemed the kind of attacking player that helps the team and those around them to do better - similar to Firmino - then that's the kind of non-big name but solid player that you do need in squads. And targeting those with release clauses - rather than getting ripped off with the English / PL / United tax - is also the kind of smart business we should be doing.
It's difficult to know exactly whose running the transfer business at the moment, and how much, if any, input the gardening leave members can offer - but hopefully this summer starts us making sensible signings because they'll improve us in needed ways - and not just reactionary ones that don't really help the balance or make up of the team.
If Zirkzee is deemed the kind of attacking player that helps the team and those around them to do better - similar to Firmino - then that's the kind of non-big name but solid player that you do need in squads. And targeting those with release clauses - rather than getting ripped off with the English / PL / United tax - is also the kind of smart business we should be doing.
Ticks all the boxes of another ten hag signing.
Based purely on a youtube highlight reel, influenced by a bit of wine, I'm getting exited by his link up play, it's sort of Martial light.
Hard to know if it's true, but apparently Wilcox has been a driving force behind this. As you say, not exactly a star signing that's going to transform the team, but it certainly seems to be a sensible one. Sounds like a player who they think might get the best out if Rashford and co, but can also play with Højlund.
I'm still not entirely convinced it will happen...but the striker market is pretty dead at the moment, so if we're going to take a punt then for the fee it seems worth it.
He gives me Cantona vibes with his running gait. He was/is a madcap character as well. I do worry about buying players from Italy though, it's walking pace over there. If you aren't quick then it gets exposed in the PL quickly.
People are not excited for him because they think our RW is empty & don't see the prolific ability of our wider forwards because of this.
Buying Zirkzee makes me even more sure that our Juventus linked player is coming back.
Unfortunately you don't buy someone like Zirkzee and sell someone that is a great finisher from out wide RW already in your books. It just doesn't make sense.
Zirkzee is about interlinking our wider forwards and to make it more skilfull, quick and indirect.
People don't see our wider players prolific enough because they expect 2 of our wider players to be sold.
Thats the problem with Zirkzee -
We have our -
Mane - Firminho - Salah
But people dont see the Salah player in the squad because they expect them to be sold so think Firminho would be rubbish because our RW only really has Amad & possibly Garnacho playing in an alternative position from their perspective.
Buying Zirkzee makes me even more sure that our Juventus linked player is coming back.
Unfortunately you don't buy someone like Zirkzee and sell someone that is a great finisher from out wide RW already in your books. It just doesn't make sense.
Zirkzee is about interlinking our wider forwards and to make it more skilfull, quick and indirect.
People don't see our wider players prolific enough because they expect 2 of our wider players to be sold.
Thats the problem with Zirkzee -
We have our -
Mane - Firminho - Salah
But people dont see the Salah player in the squad because they expect them to be sold so think Firminho would be rubbish because our RW only really has Amad & possibly Garnacho playing in an alternative position from their perspective.
It has been done but at location of the player. But knowing Koeman he will want no distractions and will stall it until after the Euros are finished (for Holland)
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