Manchester United have reportedly received contact from two clubs for a player who manager Rúben Amorim may force to stay in January.
Manchester United have entered the November international break having not lost in five fixtures, beating Sunderland, Liverpool, and Brighton, while draws to Nottingham Forest and Tottenham have helped maintain a no-lose mentality.
While there remains plenty to work on for Rúben Amorim, standout performances have been delivered by the likes of Bryan Mbuemo, Amad, and Matthijs de Ligt.
At the same time, Matheus Cunha has shown his versatility playing across the front three, while Casemiro has been a shining light in the middle of the park.
However, the lack of midweek fixtures has also hampered playing time for those currently not in favour, such as Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee, with rumours of a loan exit for both rife in the media.
United contacted by Italian sides for Zirkzee
Zirkzee has played just 90 minutes of football across his four appearances this season and is yet to make a start, having failed to break into the side after missing pre-season due to injury.
With his lack of game time apparent, the Italian outlet Il Messaggero have claimed that clubs in Italy believe the 24-year-old has already been put ‘on the market’ by United ahead of the January transfer window.
Furthermore, it has been noted that both AC Milan and AS Roma have already expressed interest and made contact with Amorim’s club, with a loan move being considered a possibility.
AC Milan, of course, were fierce rivals for United when they signed Zirkzee in 2024, with United paying £2 million over his release clause with more favourable payment terms to make the move more attractive for Bologna to accept and beat out Milan’s interest.
Amorim set to intervene in Zirkzee situation
Despite Zirkzee’s limited game time, Amorim has explained in the media on multiple occasions that he believes the 24-year-old is a fantastic footballer who is simply suffering from the lack of midweek games. He also believes that if the club had European football, Zirkzee would be playing.
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On Saturday afternoon, Benjamin Šeško, United’s first-choice striker and Zirkzee’s rival for the position, had to come off after just 25 minutes due to a knee injury and has undergone scans in recent days.
According to Fabrizio Romano, while the club do not think the Slovenian’s issue is a long-term problem, there is a chance that he could be out for at least a few weeks and therefore unavailable, which opens the door for Zirkzee to return to the team.
Furthermore, the Italian transfer specialist confirmed that United and Amorim are set to hold talks with Zirkzee and his agent in the coming days to work out a compromise that could see him playing more frequently in Šeško’s absence, but only once the extent of the latter’s knee injury is known.
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