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Manchester United’s decision to target Joshua Zirkzee in the summer was reportedly “driven” by former sporting director Dan Ashworth and the club’s recruitment team – not Erik ten Hag.
Zirkzee, 23, swapped Italy for England as the Red Devils agreed a £36.5 million deal with Serie A side Bologna.
The forward’s release clause with I Rossoblù was £33.6 million but Old Trafford officials agreed to pay slightly more to ensure a more favourable payment structure, enabling United to spend more elsewhere in the window.
Struggling Strikers
But, despite arriving with a wave of positivity as Serie A’s Young Player of the Year after an outstanding season in Italy, and even scoring the crucial winner on his debut for the club in the 1-0 victory over Fulham, Zirkzee has struggled in a red shirt.
Ruben Amorim, who replaced Ten Hag in November, does not view the Dutch international as a “clear [number] nine”, but rather more of an attacking midfielder. And Zirkzee enjoyed arguably his best performance under the former Sporting CP manager last weekend in this number ten role at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
However, the combination of United’s two strikers – Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund – combining for just five goals in the Premier League this season explains, at least partially, why the team is enduring such a dismal campaign so far.
They are currently languished in 15th in the Premier League with only four sides have scored fewer goals – an almost incomprehensible position for a club who spent £200 million in the summer.
Zirkzee and Hojlund’s combined fees amount to well over the £100 million fee Bayern Munich paid Spurs for Harry Kane two years ago. The England captain was Ten Hag’s first-choice option for the centre-forward position, but a deal was considered unviable and attention switched to Hojlund.
However, it appears Zirkzee was not Ten Hag’s choice either with Mark Ogden (ESPN) revealing the 23-year-old was a club-led target, rather than a managerial one as Matthijs de Ligt was.
Ashworth’s Influence
“Joshua Zirkzee is a player that’s really struggled this season and he was a signing that was driven by Dan Ashworth and the recruitment team,” Ogden states.
Ashworth was identified by INEOS as the perfect candidate for the vacant sporting director role at Old Trafford as United’s new owners sought to construct a ‘best-in-class’ executive structure at Old Trafford.
A protracted pursuit of the Newcastle executive was eventually successful, after months of fraught negotiations between the two clubs, and the 53-year-old officially swapped Tyneside for Manchester on July 1. Zirkzee was signed two weeks later.
However, in a shock twist which has come to illustrate Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s chaotic first year at the helm, Ashworth was dismissed just five months after he was appointed with reports suggesting INEOS did not see the director as ambitious or bold enough.
Similarly, Ogden contends, Ashworth was not the “type” of director United had initially targeted him for.
“Ashworth is respected for building the structure of the a club, building behind the scenes and getting the right people in place. What he isn’t, is a sporting director. He’s not a guy that will pick up the phone to people in Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey or wherever, to find a player or offload a player. If you want somebody like that, you’re looking at someone like Monchi at Aston Villa.”
Perhaps it’s this unfamiliarity in a recruitment role which led Ashworth to sanction a move for a new striker – who the current head coach does not believe is a striker – at a price higher than that player’s release clause.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
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