Joshua Zirkzee | signed for Manchester United

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Just watching a YouTube on him by StatmanDave and I think thinking he could partner Rashford as a new Yorke and Cole partnership.

Those two together could be super interesting.
 
Is it pronounced Xerxes ?
I think in English Xerxes is pronounced a bit like zerkzees, right? So a little, but not really, rather just Zirkzay (with the i like in pig).
 
Zeerk-say is probably quite close
That ee sound is too long, but yeah, close enough. My wife also can barely distinguish between Dutch i (kinda like in pig, while keeping the vowel short) and ie (like in English bee - also without dragging out the vowel), which is for me a clear and important sound difference.
 
For a 10 goal striker its not cheap either. Is Adebayo worth £34 million?
If he had a £34M release clause that a team would trigger then yes.
It's clear we are hamstrung by our FFP and our needs at CB and midfield.
Our outlay towards the striker position came mostly last season, whether you agree or not.
As far as I see, Hojlund is still our main striker, with Zirkzee an option to play more systems and be a good enough backup.
Zirkzee looks more than good enough to be a backup/rotation/bench option for now.

Like it or not, the fees are inflated.
 
If he had a £34M release clause that a team would trigger then yes.
It's clear we are hamstrung by our FFP and our needs at CB and midfield.
Our outlay towards the striker position came mostly last season, whether you agree or not.
As far as I see, Hojlund is still our main striker, with Zirkzee an option to play more systems and be a good enough backup.
Zirkzee looks more than good enough to be a backup/rotation/bench option for now.

Like it or not, the fees are inflated.

Guirassy was available for £15 million
City found Alvarez for £16.95 million and he's more than just a backup able to play in the same team as the main striker
Bowen was signed for £17.80 million
Solanke was signed for £17.97 million
Watkins for £28.82 million
Mateta for £9.32 million
Adebayo was signed for an undisclosed but very likely small amount

Teams constantly find players who can score 10-11 goals or more and dont have to pay £34 million to do it

For that money you'd want 15-20
 
Guirassy was available for £15 million
City found Alvarez for £16.95 million and he's more than just a backup able to play in the same team as the main striker
Bowen was signed for £17.80 million
Solanke was signed for £17.97 million
Watkins for £28.82 million
Mateta for £9.32 million
Adebayo was signed for an undisclosed but very likely small amount

Teams constantly find players who can score 10-11 goals or more and dont have to pay £34 million to do it

For that money you'd want 15-20

This is fair. Who would you suggest? I agree with you, btw.
 
Guirassy was available for £15 million
City found Alvarez for £16.95 million and he's more than just a backup able to play in the same team as the main striker
Bowen was signed for £17.80 million
Solanke was signed for £17.97 million
Watkins for £28.82 million
Mateta for £9.32 million
Adebayo was signed for an undisclosed but very likely small amount

Teams constantly find players who can score 10-11 goals or more and dont have to pay £34 million to do it

For that money you'd want 15-20
This is fair. Who would you suggest? I agree with you, btw.
It's a valid list, yeah.
But how may of those signings were made during a window when there were new owners still finding their feet and still in the middle of appointing the talented group of people who, long term, will be the ones targeting those kinds of players?

This window is pretty much a betwixt and between one. Where we are hopefully heading towards a better transfer policy - such as targeting players at good ages and available at more reasonable fees due to release clauses, etc. But it's all clearly still a work in progress while we get the recruitment team appointed and working together. We'll see the benefit of that in future windows when they've had time to work together and make long term plans.

But the appointments have been good. And I'm happy enough with the kinds of players being targeted. Though I'm sure we'll find even better options in future windows. But targets like Todibo, De Ligt, Ugarte, Zirkzee, etc, are the kind of age and fee that I'm happy to see us looking at.
 
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This is fair. Who would you suggest? I agree with you, btw.

Think Guirassy was a great oppertunity to put the pressure on Hojlund to start but is going to Dortmund now

During the season I thought Dovbyk would be good competition, but when hes been speculated for a move this summer its been at a higher price than I was expecting and may be higher than £34 million but he'd certainly score plenty of goals.
 
Guirassy was available for £15 million
City found Alvarez for £16.95 million and he's more than just a backup able to play in the same team as the main striker
Bowen was signed for £17.80 million
Solanke was signed for £17.97 million
Watkins for £28.82 million
Mateta for £9.32 million
Adebayo was signed for an undisclosed but very likely small amount

Teams constantly find players who can score 10-11 goals or more and dont have to pay £34 million to do it

For that money you'd want 15-20
What makes you think Zirkzee won't reach that level? You've mentioned players like Solanke and Mateta who have scored more than 10 goals in the Prem for the first time in their careers at ages 26 and 27 respectively. Mateta especially has been tragic until he went on a purple patch after Glasner came in. Same with Bowen too who took 3 seasons until he scored more than 10 goals and he's more of a winger than striker anyways so not sure it's helpful to add him into the comparison.

Alvarez is the only one who you could say was bang for your buck. Watkins price range is closer to what Zirkzee is supposed to cost too. By all accounts Zirkzee was a key player in Bologna's run to qualify for Champions League and at a good age too. What's not to say that he can go up a level?
 
What makes you think Zirkzee won't reach that level? You've mentioned players like Solanke and Mateta who have scored more than 10 goals in the Prem for the first time in their careers at ages 26 and 27 respectively. Mateta especially has been tragic until he went on a purple patch after Glasner came in. Same with Bowen too who took 3 seasons until he scored more than 10 goals and he's more of a winger than striker anyways so not sure it's helpful to add him into the comparison.

Alvarez is the only one who you could say was bang for your buck. Watkins price range is closer to what Zirkzee is supposed to cost too. By all accounts Zirkzee was a key player in Bologna's run to qualify for Champions League and at a good age too. What's not to say that he can go up a level?

He can improve, or he could score less due to playing less than he did this season. Nobody knows the future but he doesnt seem like the type to score a lot till now.

I'd be happy enough if he got 15 goals + 7 assists as a ballpark figure
 
He can improve, or he could score less due to playing less than he did this season. Nobody knows the future but he doesnt seem like the type to score a lot till now.

I'd be happy enough if he got 15 goals + 7 assists as a ballpark figure
I can understand the reservations but technically he looks a good player and has shown to finish with both feet when the situation arises. I'm only going off his highlights from last season but the problem I saw with him is that he doesn't get into the box to get on the end of those situations rather than him being a bad finisher. That might just be his play style or instructions from his manager to play as a deep lying forward due to how good he is with the ball at his feet, only regulars watchers can tell. I've made this point before too but based on his highlights I feel like it is something that can be coached and he has another level to go up.




Watching a few more highlights videos of his and honestly doesn't look a bad player at all.
  • Has scored goals and played passes with both his feet in that video so seems he's genuinely two-footed.
  • Mostly made good decisions in that video as lot of the passes he made were passes to players in good positions and in space.
  • Good first touch and ball manipulation.
  • A tall lad at 6'4 so probably has potential to dominate in the air. I should add that it's a statement more out of hope than anything from me as in the video he showed none of it so he probably just sucks at it.
The most glaring thing I noticed in that video and which others might have mentioned already is that he just doesn't show enough desire to get into the box once he makes his pass to wide attackers. Now, it might be just down to him following his manager's instructions to play as a deep lying forward but he could be way more effective if he can show more desire in that area.

At that price point, I don't see any issues with us going in for him. The only stumbling block seems to be the fee demanded by his agent. He could be genuine competition for Hojlund which can only be good for both him and the team.

Would love to get some opinions from people who have regularly watched him as both stats and highlights can skewed either in favour of him or against him.
 
Cant make sense of this signing. Seems like another Mount type signing, good player but not really what we want. I would rather have Toney as we desperately need goals.
 
Cant make sense of this signing. Seems like another Mount type signing, good player but not really what we want. I would rather have Toney as we desperately need goals.
Toney is a Good player but the notion he is some sort of prolific striker who guarantees goals is wide of the mark , his goal scoring record in PL without penalties is hardly impressive for a player who is supposed to be in his prime .
 
Cant make sense of this signing. Seems like another Mount type signing, good player but not really what we want. I would rather have Toney as we desperately need goals.

Go watch some tactical analysis vids of the new coaches. He’s a great fit.
If we signed Toney he’d want to be the main striker and Rasmus would have to be his back up.
Don’t think replacing Rasmus should be a priority imo.
 
Toney is a Good player but the notion he is some sort of prolific striker who guarantees goals is wide of the mark , his goal scoring record in PL without penalties is hardly impressive for a player who is supposed to be in his prime .

You know that if Toney plays for City, he gets 4 to 5 more chances created for him than at Brentford in every single game. I’d argue that 68 goals in 128 Brentford appearances is shockingly prolific.
 
Toney is a Good player but the notion he is some sort of prolific striker who guarantees goals is wide of the mark , his goal scoring record in PL without penalties is hardly impressive for a player who is supposed to be in his prime .

Exactly. In PL he has played 85 games and scored 36 goals. Out of that 11 are from penalties.

So 25 league goals in 85 games is not good.
 
You know that if Toney plays for City, he gets 4 to 5 more chances created for him than at Brentford in every single game. I’d argue that 68 goals in 128 Brentford appearances is shockingly prolific.
Exactly. People need to take into account the team he plays for and how much they create etc. in a bigger team he gets more chances and gets more goals.
 
Could you please just hurry up and buy him and de Ligt to finance our important transfers? Thank you! :angel:
 
From what I've seen of Zirzkee since we were linked, is that he'd offer you a total different type of player to Hojlund. As has been mentioned, Bologna use him as a link up man, and he's good at it. He has size, skill, vision, has decent pace, and can finish when he gets the chance.

If both were given similar game time, Hojlund will probably score more individual goals, whereas I think Zirzkee would probably help the full team score more goals, I'm really looking at someone like Rashford or even Garmacho could benefit greatly from him.
 
Could you please just hurry up and buy him and de Ligt to finance our important transfers? Thank you! :angel:

I have a feeling that it's already pretty much done.

I think United want all those deals to be advanced and just sign and knock all of them at once
 
I have a feeling that it's already pretty much done.

I think United want all those deals to be advanced and just sign and knock all of them at once
I think that you are correct. Both are still at the Euros so not really available for their medical checks either. The same applies to some of Bayern's targets like Xavi and Palhinha.
 
If he had a £34M release clause that a team would trigger then yes.
It's clear we are hamstrung by our FFP and our needs at CB and midfield.
Our outlay towards the striker position came mostly last season, whether you agree or not.
As far as I see, Hojlund is still our main striker, with Zirkzee an option to play more systems and be a good enough backup.
Zirkzee looks more than good enough to be a backup/rotation/bench option for now.

Like it or not, the fees are inflated.

We really should be targeting a striker who is more than that. It's not like Højlund has conclusively proven he's ready to be the main man.
 
Seeing Weghorst coming in ahead of him for Netherlands makes me worry a bit, but I guess Koeman really doesn't like him.
 
Seeing Weghorst coming in ahead of him for Netherlands makes me worry a bit, but I guess Koeman really doesn't like him.

Seems very raw, but it's the type of signing Liverpool and Arsenal had to make before they hit their stride.

Big upside, not immediately the answer, but modest outlay
 
From what I've seen of Zirzkee since we were linked, is that he'd offer you a total different type of player to Hojlund. As has been mentioned, Bologna use him as a link up man, and he's good at it. He has size, skill, vision, has decent pace, and can finish when he gets the chance.

If both were given similar game time, Hojlund will probably score more individual goals, whereas I think Zirzkee would probably help the full team score more goals, I'm really looking at someone like Rashford or even Garmacho could benefit greatly from him.
Yeah, that's how I'm seeing it. You have different types of #9's, and Hojlund and Zirkzee would provide a good balance in terms of offering the different things that you mention.

The follow up from some will probably be that we don't get enough goals from elsewhere to play a non-prolific striker - but if you're going to keep and play the likes of Rashford, Garnacho and Fernandes, which we are, then there's got to be a belief that they can score plenty of goals (as Rashford and Fernandes have shown in past seasons), and so bringing in a kind of player that should hopefully help them to up their end product seems a good tactic. Especially given the lack of affordable and prolific #9's out there.
 
Seeing Weghorst coming in ahead of him for Netherlands makes me worry a bit, but I guess Koeman really doesn't like him.
Zirkzee looks like a different type of forward. Seems like he prefers playing abit deeper and connecting with midfielders.
We know Weghorst leads the line in the classic number 9 way.
 
Sounds like he will be on top of Bruno then. Fighting for space again. Same as Mount.

Or like Martial... who when he played under Ten Hag we played our best attacking football...
 
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