When Joshua Zirkzee will return as Man United unveil new shirt number hint

Joshua Zirkzee has not yet returned to Carrington following his Manchester United move earlier this month.

Zirkzee, 23, joined United earlier this month and appeared at the training ground to sign the contract and conduct his first interview for the club.

However, he then jetted off on holiday following his participation at Euro 2024 with the Netherlands, who reached the semi-finals of the competition.

Fans are eager to know when the new signing will appear at the training ground and whether it will be before Erik ten Hag’s squad flies to the United States for the pre-season tour on Wednesday.

It would be possible for the Dutchman to meet up with the squad in America. We do have accurate clues on when he will be set to return, considering other Euro 2024 stars have begun to reappear at Carrington.

Tom Heaton, Scott McTominay, Rasmus Højlund and Christian Eriksen have now all returned to United duty. McTominay came back on Wednesday last week after exiting in the group stages with Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Danish duo reached the round of 16 and returned to United duty on Monday.

That suggests that Zirkzee and other players who progressed past the round of 16 will not be returning to action until later this week at the very minimum. He left the competition 11 days after Hojlund and Eriksen. This means they will be meeting up with the squad in the United States.

“I’m going on a short break, try to relax a bit and then get back to Manchester and get going,” Zirkzee told club media in his interview last week.

Players like Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo could be offered a further extended break considering his large involvement for club and country last term.

Zirkzee is also missing a shirt number, and speaking on Dutch outlet Supergaande, the new United forward explained how he was relaxed between taking no.11 or no.9, depending on what Rasmus Hojlund’s preference is.

“It depends on what Højlund is going to do. He’s a striker, so the No. 9 is now free, but he’s got 11,” he said.

“So I can imagine that he says, ‘I’d like to have that No. 9 as a striker’. But then I’ll just take that 11. So it’ll probably be 11.”

Interestingly, Højlund has been pictured in training at Carrington on Tuesday, and he still has the no.11 on his training gear, suggesting that the no.9 will be taken by Zirkzee.

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