Joshua Zirkzee has decided to leave Manchester United in January and is eager to be reunited with his former manager Thiago Motta at Juventus, according to reports in Italy.
Zirkzee, 23, was one of five signings at Old Trafford in the summer, joining the Premier League side for £36million.
While he came off the bench to score on his Premier League debut against Fulham, the Netherlands international has struggled since then, failing to add to his tally with the level of his performances already a concern among supporters.
Zirkzee has not started a Premier League match since being hauled off at half-time in the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham in September, with Paul Scholes among the former United stars questioning what role he has to play at the club.
Zirkzee enjoyed a fine campaign last season at Bologna, who qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history under Motta. The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder left the club to take over at Juventus in June with the Bianconeri currently in sixth place, four points off the top.
Motta is eager for January reinforcements with Gazzetta dello Sport reporting he wants to be reunited with Zirkzee and Lewis Ferguson, another star of his Bologna team last season.
The Italian publication reports the United star ‘wants to leave’ Manchester in January to work alongside Motta again, with his former coach identifying him as a viable alternative to Dusan Vlahovic up top.
Juventus are keen to take Zirkzee on an initial loan deal but given United’s paucity of options up top, it remains to be seen whether they would sanction such a deal without bringing in a replacement.
Zirkzee came off the bench for the final 20 minutes in Amorim’s first game in charge against Ipswich Town last weekend and was an unused substitute in the Europa League win over Bodo/Glimt where Rasmus Hojlund scored twice.
Zirkzee was played in a No.10 role behind Hojlund after he was brought on in the 68th minute against Ipswich but new manager Ruben Amorim made it clear that the Dutch forward needs to work harder at getting in the box during United’s attacks.
‘I think that [decision-making] is a concern, you don’t need to coach them at this level,’ Amorim told Sky Sports.
‘You have to keep the ball and know the momentum to put the ball in front. Sometimes you feel that you can’t keep the ball and you [have to] put the ball in front.
‘Then you have like we are in the end of the game, we were around the box with two strikers. Josh [Zirkzee] has to understand that he has to go to the box to have the crosses.
‘So we are doing some things that were not at the right moment, so that is something we have to address. Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, that is not the concern, the system is the system but the understanding of the game is what we have to improve a lot in this area.’
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