Joshua Zirkzee | signed for Manchester United

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DontBeMeanToBeRuud said:
For me, if we get a striker that is predominantly a goalscorer only - for example Osimhen and maybe Isak - we are just getting another better version of Rasmus Hojlund.

However, Rasmus Hojlund didnt get enough service from Rashford, Garnacho, Antony or Amad.

What makes you think that Isak will get the service when Hojlund didnt?

Toney is a bit better because I've heard he plays a bit like Kane and can play in inverted forwards like our Son or Kulsesvski.

Basically -

Our next striker needs to replace Martial as a creative forward.

Zirkzee on paper sounds exactly this. A deeper lying creative forward to play inbetween our inverted forwards which are our most powerful forwards.

If the likes of Solanke, Toney, Isak or even Osimhen - are creative forwards that can find Rashford & Garnancho just as much as those two will be finding the CF back then thats great.

The position Zirkzee takes it will be easier for Rashford, Garnacho and Amad to find him because he plays deeper and interlinks the rest of the forward line.

However i still believe in Sancho Preseason False 9 doing the same thing & if he was to return - a more creative ST like Toney is more important than Zirkzee imo.
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Respectfully disagree in part on this point about Hojlund - yes our wingers don't give enough service but Hojlund also appears to have an awful first touch and poor hold up play. There were plenty of occasions this year where the ball has been played in to him and he has been easily shirked off or had a clumsy first-touch. At times he made Lukaku look silky.

I'd love a Solanke, Isak, Watkins etc because I think their initial touch is at a much better level than Rasmus and a proper goalscorer with a great first touch will get on a lot of stuff for us.
 
He reminds me of an inform Martial
 
Insanity said:
It wasn't a "theory", it was a comment on our need and the player in question's suitability to fulfill that need.

With Martial released, the priority to get another striker is as big as the need to fill the holes in defense and midfield. You cannot go into a 60 game season with just one primary striker, that too someone as raw as Hojlund. Isak or Watkins were examples of the type of strikers we need, who are also not "big lumps". It is up to the scouting team to find someone who is within our budget.

Even if we had Kane we would need another striker in the mix. Players need to be rotated or worst, can get injured. I won't go into the creativity, chance creation etc to digress from the main point.

I have seen this guy play as Motta was my number 1 choice to take over from ETH along with McKenna. He is more of a forward than a striker. He can play across the line but doesn't have the holding ability to play as a main striker for a top team. We can't get players just because they are cheaper. They need to fit in with the requirements of the team.
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"It is up to the scouting team to find someone within our budget"

I mean you just mentioned that we need Isak or Watkins. Those players aren't just lying around though which is why the real things cost close to 100m. So anyone you buy (like Zirkzee for example) for our budget will have to be someone you believe can develop into those style of strikers. It's all well and good to say "well that's the scouts job" but it's essentially unheard of for big clubs to just sign an unknown striker that comes in and is immediately better than other options that would have been more expensive. All of the names are pretty much known already, so anyone that you think is a "hidden gem" will have to be completely "unproven" a la Brighton's transfer strategy. I'd love for us to bring some of that shrewd buying to our own transfer plans but it's just not going to happen often. It's pretty obvious the striker market these days is one of the most expensive relative to quality of any position on the pitch, which is why we had to shell out 60m for Hojlund with how raw/inexperienced he was.

I'm not disagreeing that we need another striker. I just think Zirkzee is a very good option for what he can bring/the qualities he already has coupled with the price. You buy him and hope to develop him further, because the next tier above that you are talking about doubling the fee and that's even if you can get a club to sell their top striker to you.
 
croadyman said:
So could be a good signing then?
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Who knows how would adapt to the PL, but yes I would say so, he isn't prolific (although I think he can score a lot more) but his all round link up play is phenomenal
 
Cassidy said:
He reminds me of an inform Martial
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Does that mean that quite a few posters on this forum will hate him because he doesnt 'bust a gut' to get to the near post for a tap in? Or because he isnt making constant off the ball runs but instead will drop deep and leaving the opponent their box empty? Zirkzee isnt exactly a proper striker
 
Stadjer said:
Does that mean that quite a few posters on this forum will hate him because he doesnt 'bust a gut' to get to the near post for a tap in? Or because he isnt making constant off the ball runs but instead will drop deep and leaving the opponent their box empty? Zirkzee isnt exactly a proper striker
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Who cares what posters will think, an inform Martial had this team playing the best football we have seen since SAF, and also more importantly best football under ETH too
 
I’m pretty sure if we’re looking to improve our team we need better players than the ones we currently have, rather than buying more of the same.

Is he an upgrade on Hojlund, Garnacho, Amad or Rashford? Or, of a similar ability but in a slightly different way? I suspect the latter, so let’s not waste the €40m, and spend that cash on a position we can get a clear upgrade on.
 
BuzzKillington said:
I’m pretty sure if we’re looking to improve our team we need better players than the ones we currently have, rather than buying more of the same.

Is he an upgrade on Hojlund, Garnacho, Amad or Rashford? Or, of a similar ability but in a slightly different way? I suspect the latter, so let’s not waste the €40m, and spend that cash on a position we can get a clear upgrade on.
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We need two strikers in the squad.
 
Remember the geese said:
What we have is Højlund and...

Only way round it is to play Bruno as a false 9 as our other option. Still though, we should sign another striker.
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Chances are Rashford will return to the mean next year, should be worth 15-20. It’s a risk, but no bigger one than thinking Zirkzee will come in and get that amount of goals. And Rashford won’t cost us €40m.

I’m not saying we should stick with what we’ve got, but we should be looking for players better than what we have currently. The players being replaced become the squad depth, you don’t buy squad depth in our position.
 
BuzzKillington said:
Chances are Rashford will return to the mean next year, should be worth 15-20. It’s a risk, but no bigger one than thinking Zirkzee will come in and get that amount of goals. And Rashford won’t cost us €40m.

I’m not saying we should stick with what we’ve got, but we should be looking for players better than what we have currently. The players being replaced become the squad depth, you don’t buy squad depth in our position.
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Rashford cannot be considered. He isn't a striker. His goals should be an added extra to those of multiple centre forwards.

We won't be signing a striker to replace Højlund.
 
BuzzKillington said:
Zirkzee isn’t a striker any more than Rashford is. And if we’re buying forwards, I feel there are better options than him.
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Such as? And for £34million?

And yes Zirkzee is a striker, he is more like Kane in his style of dropping into the 10 role and creating for others.
 
Watched a couple of videos on him, his touch in tight spaces is a quality we’re surely missing, finishingvery martial vibe, I mean the “good” martial.

Would be a better option than Sesko, as we already have a Scandinavian muscle.

Our goal hungry wingers atleast will surely be happy that they don’t have to cross in some games if he’s playing no. 9

Should be our first striker priority if funds are available atm.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
"It is up to the scouting team to find someone within our budget"

I mean you just mentioned that we need Isak or Watkins. Those players aren't just lying around though which is why the real things cost close to 100m. So anyone you buy (like Zirkzee for example) for our budget will have to be someone you believe can develop into those style of strikers. It's all well and good to say "well that's the scouts job" but it's essentially unheard of for big clubs to just sign an unknown striker that comes in and is immediately better than other options that would have been more expensive. All of the names are pretty much known already, so anyone that you think is a "hidden gem" will have to be completely "unproven" a la Brighton's transfer strategy. I'd love for us to bring some of that shrewd buying to our own transfer plans but it's just not going to happen often. It's pretty obvious the striker market these days is one of the most expensive relative to quality of any position on the pitch, which is why we had to shell out 60m for Hojlund with how raw/inexperienced he was.

I'm not disagreeing that we need another striker. I just think Zirkzee is a very good option for what he can bring/the qualities he already has coupled with the price. You buy him and hope to develop him further, because the next tier above that you are talking about doubling the fee and that's even if you can get a club to sell their top striker to you.
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I mean, I literally didn't. I said we need someone of that ilk.
 
If we’re serious then we best hurry up before Milan sign him.
 
Widow said:


Looks both footed, good with back to goal, can pick a pass and he has great close control.
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Reasonable price too, would still put Toney above but only if we could get him for around £50m
 
BuzzKillington said:
I’m pretty sure if we’re looking to improve our team we need better players than the ones we currently have, rather than buying more of the same.
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In some positions, yes. In others we simply don't have enough senior players for a serious top PL squad.

We need two central striker options, so Zirkzee doesn't have to be better than Hojlund necessarily, just good enough to offer him genuine competition. We don't have the luxury of trying to significantly upgrade on Hojlund, given the greater need elsewhere in the squad.
 
BuzzKillington said:
Zirkzee isn’t a striker any more than Rashford is. And if we’re buying forwards, I feel there are better options than him.
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With our FFP/PSR situation potentially hindering us then Zirkzee for £34 million is a decent deal and as for not being a striker he’s as much a striker as Cantona, Bergkamp, Sheringham and Rooney all were in that he drops deep and allow others to push on past him which is something we’ve not had since Rooney.
 
Widow said:


Looks both footed, good with back to goal, can pick a pass and he has great close control.
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Looks impressive in that !!
Very nice touch and seems to be able to glide past players.
For £34m I’d say go for it, he’s something different that we don’t currently have.
 
davidmichael said:
With our FFP/PSR situation potentially hindering us then Zirkzee for £34 million is a decent deal and as for not being a striker he’s as much a striker as Cantona, Bergkamp, Sheringham and Rooney all were in that he drops deep and allow others to push on past him which is something we’ve not had since Rooney.
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We had Martial for a season or 2. It would be nice to have that option in the squad again though.
 
Never seen this lad play, and know nothing about him. But from his fbref, looks like a player in the mould of a Firminho.

Would be great to have that type of forward with our 'shoot first, make passes later' wingers.

Sign him up!
 
AnotherLondonManc said:
Never seen this lad play, and know nothing about him. But from his fbref, looks like a player in the mould of a Firminho.

Would be great to have that type of forward with our 'shoot first, make passes later' wingers.

Sign him up!
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Yes exactly and this was why I was complaining that Rashford - Hojlund - Garnacho wasn't a real attack and we needed a guy like Olise to make it all click.

The other way is to replicate the Rashford - Martial - Greenwood attack and just get an elite false 9 type forward.

Generally having someone that can play false 9 in the locker is useful too. City use Alvarez that way. Arsenal with guys like Jesus and Trossard at CF. Liverpool with Jota.

It seems like you need one battering ram of a forward of the Nunez, Haaland, Hojlund mould and one more versatile link up type these days.

No comment on this guy specifically, know nothing about him.
 
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