United Kingdom Amorim has decided “elite” Man Utd player is ‘inadequate’, he 100% must go in January – opinion

Manchester United are reportedly prepared to cut their losses on £36.5 million acquisition, Joshua Zirkzee, with Ruben Amorim considering the striker as not being “adequate”.

Zirkzee has made 17 appearances since his arrival at Old Trafford last summer, but is yet to make progress on his singular goal he netted on the Premier League’s opening day against Fulham. Despite his towering height, he often struggles to impose himself in games, and Ian Wright previously claimed the Dutchman “will never make it” at the club.

Now, with compatriot, Erik ten Hag, sacked – the man who earmarked the signing of Zirkzee in the first place – the future looks uncertain for the 23-year-old, who is thought to not be involved in Amorim’s plans either. As such, a sale is a possible solution, and if one can be organised as early as January, it would allow the Red Devils to invest into a more suitable option for the centre forward role.

Manchester United’s search for a new striker looks to be well underway, and a plethora of names have been linked already, including the likes of Sporting’s Victor Gyokeres and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane. The former in particular may credit much of his meteoric rise in European football to Amorim, as the two worked together in the Portuguese custodian’s previous role. Therefore, a reunion for the two in Manchester is certainly not one to write off.

However, in any case, if United are to splash out on another reinforcement in attack, they may need to shift one of their current crop to make space, and Zirkzee is more likely to receive the axe as opposed to Rasmus Hojlund, despite only being at the club for less than six months.

Reports last week indicated that United were willing to include Zirkzee as a makeweight in negotiations for Gyokeres, and also purportedly planned a similar deal for Victor Osimhen. While they may not be able to recoup the maximum value from their number 11, it could encourage the selling club to progress in negotiations, particularly in a January transfer period, where identifying a replacement following a sale is already a strenuous task.