Former Man Utd coach ‘surprised’ by summer signing No 1, with ‘expected’ move missed; doubt cast

Former Manchester United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen has admitted his “surprise” at the signing of Joshua Zirkzee, as a “more experienced” striker would not have the bedding in issues he may face.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, following United’s last Premier League triumph, the club have had a lot of strikers on the books. Some have been successful, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

And some have been less so, like Memphis Depay and Radamel Falcao.

Of late, the likes of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, while on their day are quality assets, have struggled to inspire.

Martial has now left the club, with a tally of 90 goals in his 317 appearances for the Red Devils.

And while he played a limited role in his final few seasons, replacing him is still a must, and United have attempted to do so with a player they feel has a higher ceiling than the Frenchman ever had.

They have landed on Bologna man Zirkzee, after assessing their options in recent months. The Dutchman bagged 12 goals and seven assists in all competitions last season.

And Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that he’s to become the first Old Trafford addition of the summer, costing slightly more than the £33million clause in his contract, but with better terms for United.

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Meulensteen surprised by Zirkzee signing

But former United coach Meulensteen, who was an assistant to the club’s most successful manager, Ferguson, expected them to go in a different direction in the striker position.

“It’s interesting to see how Zirkzee does that because I expected United to go for a more experienced striker,” he said on talkSPORT.

Indeed, with Rasmus Hojlund – 21 years old and having played just one season at Old Trafford – the only other senior central striker, it might have been expected that United would go for someone a bit older to help him out.

They do now have the opportunity for the young pair of strikers to excite, though, and it’ll go down as a masterstroke if they work together immediately.

But Hojlund himself struggled to adapt at first, scoring his first league goal in his 15th appearance in the English top flight, and Meulensteen feels there’s a chance Zirkzee has similar struggles.

“But it’s a little bit of a surprising signing to me. When people come from other leagues into the Premier League it takes time to settle, and not all the players do settle,” he said.

But Meulensteen does feel that Zirkzee has a good set of attributes to potentially help his success.

“It’s an interesting deal. He’s obviously a young and upcoming player. He had a few minutes on the pitch for Holland [the Netherlands]. He’s a tall boy, strong and very skilful,” he added.

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