Joshua Zirkzee delivers praise for “great” Manchester United teammate who surprised fans

Joshua Zirkzee has delivered praise for a “great” Manchester United teammate who has surprised Old Trafford fans.

Zirkzee, 23, joined United this summer from Bologna and has impressed during his short time at the club so far.

The forward has previously described himself as a ‘9.5’ as he likes to drop in and link play. This has quickly become evident under Erik ten Hag.

His best performance came away at Crystal Palace on the weekend, with the Dutchman helping United dominate proceedings with his hold-up play and ability to link with the other attacking players.

Ten Hag was criticised for bringing the 23-year-old off for Marcus Rashford midway through the second half. United’s attacking play worsened after the change.

Zirkzee praises De Ligt’s impact

Speaking during an interview with ViaPlay last week, Zirkzee made sure to praise another new United recruit and his Dutch teammate Matthijs de Ligt.

The defender has started the last three Premier League outings for the Reds and had three solid performances.

He was one of the few impressive players during the defeat against Liverpool and scored against Southampton. It was another dominant showing at Palace on the weekend.

After a tough international break with the Netherlands, De Ligt’s solid form at Old Trafford has pleased his teammate for club and country Zirkzee.

“It was nice to see him score. Matthijs is of course my buddy here. Also in the Dutch team,” he  said.

“It was a moment. Matthijs also jumped in front of me. I almost got his foot in my face afterwards. I was just super happy for him.

“I don’t really want to say it, but I think it was written about him in a difficult period because of what happened at the Dutch national team. I don’t think that had an effect on him.

“But I was just super happy for him. He also played great. He’s in the group. He’s great for us. I was just very happy.”

De Ligt surprising Man Utd fans

It is fair to say that there were mixed opinions when United agreed a deal to sign De Ligt from Bayern Munich in the summer.

Whether or not the concerns were fair, many were unsure about the 25-year-old’s form since leaving Ajax in 2019 and his injury record.

In fact, those worries seemed like the standard Premier League bias, where fans only see a handful of action from those playing abroad.

Now, it appears that De Ligt’s performances and leadership at the back is surprising some fans. But we also need him to find that consistency at the back alongside Lisandro Martínez.

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