Manchester United are close to completing a move for top target Joshua Zirkzee, with the Bologna attacker now all but confirming he will soon be arriving at Old Trafford
Joshua Zirkzee has hinted his move to Manchester United is close to completion.
The attacker has emerged as the Red Devils’ top target in the early stages of the summer transfer window. He starred as Bologna claimed a fifth-place finish in Serie A last season, which earned them qualification for the group stages of the Champions League.
Zirkzee scored 12 goals and notched seven assists in all competitions for the Italian side. He did enough to earn a call up for the Netherlands squad for Euro 2024, playing in the quarter-final against Turkey and the semi-final defeat to England.
His performances also caught the eye of United, who have made signing a new attacker their top priority. Boss Erik ten Hag personally spoke to the Dutchman and that call looks to have done enough to convince him to move to Old Trafford.
His arrival is expected to be officially announced in the coming days. But it appears that the 23-year-old has now all but confirmed his impending arrival via social media, by dropping some not-so-subtle hints.
Zirkzee has ‘liked’ two separate posts on the Instagram page of Fabrizio Romano, the second of which reads: ‘HERE WE GO! Man United agree to sign Joshua Zirkzee as first move for INEOS.’
United have been forced to fend off fierce competition from AC Milan for Zirkzee. They look to have succeeded in that, with the Red Devils close to completing a £36million deal with Bologna.
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Zirkzee has previously refused to address the rumours over his future. Following the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over Turkey, the attacker refused to commit himself to Bologna beyond the summer.
Asked if he will still be playing in Italy next season, Zirkzee told Sportitalia: “I don’t know, let’s see.” Pressed on whether there was a 50 per cent chance that he could remain, he responded: “Let’s see.”
Bologna though do appear to have admitted their star man is on his way out of the club. The Italian side have consigned themselves to seeing his release clause be activated and are instead focusing on keeping hold of defender Ricardo Calafiori, who is a target for Arsenal.
“Zirkzee has a clause so he will leave 99.9 per cent. We have been thinking about his replacement for months. It won’t be easy but we will work to replace him, we already have some names, some ideas,” Bologna’s technical director Giovanni Sartori told Sky Sport Italia.
“We only signed Calafiori 12 months ago, so we’ll see what happens, but in our minds we want to keep him. There has been talk of Juventus, but also many other clubs. If we were to receive big offers, we’d have to think about it. But I repeat we will try to keep him.”
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