Ruud Gullit says £36m Man Utd star ‘joined the wrong club this summer’ | Football

The 23-year-old made the move to United in a £36.5 million (€42.5m) deal from Bologna in the summer transfer window.

AC Milan had also held extensive talks to sign Zirkzee in the summer and earlier in the window, the Serie A club were confident over securing a deal for the Netherlands international.

Zirkzee opted for United after talks with Erik ten Hag but his start in England has been muted with just one goal in nine appearances so far.

And Gullit, who won nine trophies as a player for AC Milan, feels Zirkzee should have opted to remain in Serie A for at least another season.

‘He knew Serie A and another couple of seasons in this league would have been very useful for his maturation but at a top club like Milan.

‘Now instead he is at a club that has so many problems and that does not facilitate his growth.

‘I hope he manages to reverse the trend after an inevitable period of acclimatisation.

‘He’s good, no doubt about that, but at United, it’s hard to do well at such a moment in history.’

Speaking last week, Ten Hag called for patience with Zirkzee, who has not scored since United’s win over Fulham on the opening game of the Premier League season.

‘You have to assess the situation,’ Ten Hag said.

‘Still we are working and are in progress. We have made the choice to sign young players, like last year Hojlund, like this year Zirkzee, Yoro, players who we believe in at this moment and also for the future and we have to build them.’

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