Erik ten Hag set challenge for £36m Manchester United star, he’s responded brilliantly

Erik ten Hag has set a challenge for one £36 million Manchester United star this season and he’s already responded well.

The United boss will be pleased following the team’s 3-0 win over Southampton on the weekend and now turns his attention to their Carabao Cup clash against Barnsley on Tuesday.

Some players are still getting up to full speed after limited pre-seasons in the summer, one of those being new signing Joshua Zirkzee.

Zirkzee, 23, was signed in the summer from Bologna for a reported £36 million but started on the bench in the opening two games of the season.

He has since started three games for club and country as he looks to gain further match fitness.

Many were impressed by the striker’s performance against The Saints despite the fact he was unable to get on the scoresheet. He did get in the right position to shoot at goal multiple times.

Ten Hag challenges Zirkzee

Following Zirkzee’s debut goal against Fulham, the United boss explained that he wants the 23-year-old to continue being in the right place to score goals in the box.

Erik ten Hag stated that Zirkzee needs to find the “right balance” between dropping deep to link play and being in the position to score inside the penalty area.

“Scoring for strikers is important,” Ten Hag told reporters when asked about the forward’s playstyle.

“And he should be there where he was, to finish, to kill, but he has more qualities so he has to get the right balance. We have to work with him – I think that is one of the things I spoke with him about. He has to arrive in the box to get his finishes.

“Of course, we want him to link up also. For that attribute, we bought him, and he has great qualities to make that link-up play. We have some great midfielders around him who we can make combinations so we can take control of the game.”

Zirkzee already responding

While he has only scored once for the Reds so far, Zirkzee is doing exactly what his manager wants. He has picked up great positions in the last two games against Liverpool and Southampton.

While the shots haven’t yet gone in for the Dutchman, as long as he continues to find these spaces inside the area, he will start putting the ball in the back of the net.

Kees van Hemmen on X found an interesting statistic: He compared Zirkzee’s expected goals so far this season to the entire of his last campaign at Bologna.

While the sample size is incredibly small, it is certainly a good start and shows that Zirkzee appears to be listening to his manager. He must balance the linkup play with finding spaces in the box to finish and it looks like he’s getting that balance right.

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