Welcome Joshua Zirkzee

Looks great on youtube.

Backup to Depay and Weghorst at the Euros though.

I thought I heard a while back that Højlund was getting the 9 shirt this season?

Like you I Hope he does well but I am very underwhelmed that he's our solution also. Goals is the biggest issue in this Utd team and Zirkzee isn't prolific at all. He's a 1 in 4 player for a middle of the road Italian team.

The need for experience is overplayed imo.

If we were to get an experienced striker it would either be someone who is not elite and is never going to be or an older big name striker on high wages which hasn’t worked for us.

We'll see how it gets on. As usual, I'm more excited by bringing in a young player with a lot of potential and watching him grow than splashing the cash on someone who has already proved himself and supposedly comes with a guarantee of impact.

But getting away from the happy/sad reactions, there's a good piece by Carl Anka in the Athletic analysing him as a player and how we might use him. Key points:

1) As an alternative to Hojlund he would offer something more like the skill set of Martial as a centre forward, bringing the wide forwards into play, helping keep possession higher up the pitch and better guard against chaotic counter-attacks: "Standing at 6ft 4in (193cm), Zirkzee possesses all of the qualities for hold-up play you’d expect/hope of a man of that size, but he combines it with the technical and dribbling abilities of someone much shorter and with a lower centre of gravity. His eye for a pass also means he can be something of a Swiss Army knife, offering multiple solutions to a manner of team-wide attacking issues at United."

2) Could be one of the two strikers in the 4-2-2-2 system United deployed at the end of the last season, alongside Hojlund (with Bruno on the right) or Bruno (with Hojlund on the bench).

3) Could play as number 10 (deputising for Bruno, or with Bruno shifted to the right) - using his size, hold up play, dribbling and passing as a high class version of the role Wout Weghorst (and Fellaini) played at 10, enabling us to move up the pitch quickly and make the ball stick.

4) Things to be wary of: like Hojlund, not great in the air; doesn't have the box presence of the best centre forwards. He's also a player who thrives on interchanges, which is something United want but haven't yet mastered: "Many of his best bits of play require him to work in close collaboration with the team-mates around him; if given time to grow into his role and build familiarity with United’s other attackers over a consistent period, all should blossom. But a repeat of the injury-enforced chopping and changing to Ten Hag’s line-up last season could see a player who thrives in selfless consistency struggle to find his feet."

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5629115/2024/07/15/joshua-zirkzee-fit-into-manchester-united-team/

Glad to have another forward in.

Is he good enough? Time will tell.

Considering that our wide players rarely create, a normal CF would be suffocated of chances. He may be a better fit to the system we want or bring into play players where our main threats are the likes Rashford (when in form) and Garnacho.

Am souprized Zirkzee took such a huge step down in team purely 4 the $$$