Manchester United make secret change to Joshua Zirkzee transfer, it’s genius

Manchester United have agreed a deal with Bolgona for the transfer of 23-year-old striker Joshua Zirkzee.

The Netherlands international will become the first signing of the INEOS era at United after Fabrizio Romano revealed that an agreement had been made.

United have been heavily linked to Zirkzee in recent weeks, and the deal will now be complete after he was knocked out of Euro 2024 on Wednesday evening.

Zirkzee scored 12 goals and registered seven assists for Bologna last term, helping the Italian club secure Champions League football for the first time since the 1960s.

However, transfer expert David Ornstein has explained an extremely interesting change to the deal for the Dutch forward.

The Athletic reporter claims that United have not triggered the £34 million release clause in Zirkzee’s contract but instead agreed on another fee.

United will pay Bologna a slightly higher amount of £35.7 million, but importantly, this will allow the club to stagger the terms of the deal over a three-year period.

Ornstein explained that if they paid the release clause, it would have needed to all be paid at once.

This seems like an insignificant detail, but it shows that the new team at Old Trafford, led by sporting director Dan Ashworth, has impressive negotiation skills.

It would’ve likely been more beneficial to Bologna to receive the entire release clause fee immediately rather than an extra £1.7 million over a three-year period.

However, it was necessary for United, who can now spread the cost of that deal, allowing them extra funds for other positions and targets this summer.

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