Less than 24 hours after Manchester United confirmed that Erik ten Hag would be staying on at Old Trafford, the Premier League giants took another big step forward in their preparations for next season.
While the new Ineos-led board were reportedly confident that the uncertainty over Ten Hag’s future would not affect their summer plans – especially with Jason Wilcox taking a key role in recruitment – a little more clarity in the dugout can surely only be a good thing.
Manchester United, the biggest decision of the early Ineos era behind them, can now focus decisively on the transfer market.
And The Independent reports that, as of Wednesday, Man United are making progress in their pursuit of a new centre-forward with three names put on the shortlist. The report does not add if these are the only names on the shortlist, but all three make at least some degree of sense for various seasons.
Beginning with Joshua Zirkzee, Bologna’s former Bayern Munich prospect would give Man United a completely different dimension in the final third. Likened to Dimitar Berbatov by some and Robin van Persie by others, if Rasmus Hojlund is a classic number nine then Zirkzee is more of a ‘nine-and-a-half’.
The elegant Dutchman scored only 12 goals last season as Bologna qualified for the Champions League for the first time. But what he lacks in that department, he makes up for with his movement, technical ability, intelligence, and link-play. It is not hard to imagine Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho comfortably breaking into double figures alongside Zirkzee, the 23-year-old dropping deep and opening up spaces for his wingers to run in behind.
Zirkzee, furthermore, has a very affordable £34 million release clause in his contract. That understandably appears to a United side who are not exacrtly awash with cash, even if there are rumours of a very hefty fee that must be paid to his agent Kia Joorabchian.
“He has developed, also in his mentality,” Zirkzee’s former Dutch youth coach Kees van Wonderen tells Rondo on Ziggo Sport. “The hard work, investing and playing a part in the defensive tasks of your team, he used to have much less of that. He didn’t think that was important.
“(Zirkzee) lived for scoring goals. He, of course, has very important qualities in the final third. Scoring goals is his quality.”
“I just made the comparison with Van Persie,” adds Van Wonderen, who ironically has since been replaced in the Heerenveen dugout by that aforementioned Dutchman.
“When you saw (Van Persie) at Arsenal, (he had) a completely different way of looking at things.”
Ivan Toney and Jonathan David are options
The Independent also throws Ivan Toney into the mix. Toney offers a few plus points Zirkzee does not, too, including experience and a proven track record in the Premier League. The England international broke the 20-goal barrier for Brentford in 2022/23 though he did endure a difficult follow-up campaign due to that lengthy betting ban.
Toney is reluctant to extend a contract which expires in 2025. Meaning, he should be available for less than his usual market value.
The same can be said of Jonathan David, also due to become a free-agent next year. The Brooklyn-born Canada international may be viewed by some as the least attractive of the three – prone to dips in form and having endured a fraught World Cup in 2022 – but his goalscoring record remains impressive.
David helped fire Lille to the Ligue 1 title a few years back. With 26 goals last season, meanwhile, he comfortably outscored Toney and Zirkzee over the last 10 months.
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