Why Man Utd have made Zirkzee their top striker target as cut-price fee emerges

Joshua Zirkzee remains Manchester United’s top striker target this summer despite battling to establish himself in the Netherlands' starting XI.

United's recruitment team have identified the 23-year-old Bologna forward as the ideal candidate to ease the goalscoring burden on Ramus Hojlund and provide competition for the Denmark forward.

Zirkzee has a £34million release clause in his Bologna contract, which United have indicated they are willing to play, with talks now ongoing with his representatives over personal terms.

Erik ten Hag’s United were the joint-lowest scorers in the top half of the Premier League last season with 57 goals, as they finished in eighth position, the club's worst finish for 34 years.

Against that backdrop, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his newly-assembled football executive team are looking to strengthen the squad with young players who can be developed into world-class stars.

Zirkzee certainly fits that bill, with the 6ft 4in Dutch attacker having scored 11 goals and provided five assists in Serie A last season, with United believing he can take his game to another level with them.

What has drawn United to Zirkzee is his ability to play a variety of roles and his versatility in being able to adapt to different positions and tactical demands.

Naturally a striker, who plays through the middle, Zirkzee is comfortable dropping deeper to pick the ball up and link midfield and attack or drift out wide to cause a threat.

One of his great strengths is his ability to receive possession deep, often on the turn, then take on and beat opponents by running with the ball, allied to his clinical finishing in front of goal.

Zirkzee's pace, intelligence, ball-carrying ability and knack of dragging opponents out of position with his clever movement can give Ten Hag's side something they were lacking last season.

In that sense, Zirkzee is more than a striker and offers more than Hojlund, who is a more traditional No.9, who relies on his physicality and does not tend to drop deep or drift wide to influence play.

Having joined Bologna from Bayern Munich for £7.2m in 2022, Zirkzee has seen his transfer value more than quadruple since, testimony to his emergence as one of Europe's brightest young talents.

Landing him would represent a major coup for United, who are also pushing to sign another young talent, Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite, as part of Ratcliffe's radical overhaul of the fallen giants.