Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee has delivered an honest verdict regarding his situation at the club.
Zirkzee scores again
While Zirkzee may be struggling for playing time at United, he has shown no evidence of rust during the current international break.
Zirkzee received a late call-up to the Netherlands squad after Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey sustained an injury.
The United ace scored the winner, his second goal for the Netherlands, in Sunday’s 2-1 UEFA Nations League win over Serbia. Zirkzee came off the bench at the start of the second half and added to his previous strike for his Oranje, which came against Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2024.
A superb team move was finished off by Zirkzee, who found himself in the right place at the right time to tap home from extremely close range.
After the game, Zirkzee spoke to ESPN and admitted that his call-up came as a complete surprise given his lack of regular minutes at Manchester United. He further stated that the responsibility rests with him to improve his circumstances through strong performances and to change Michael Carrick’s mind.
Zirkzee’s remarks
Zirkzee said [as quoted by the Manchester Evening News], “Even if it was going in, I think Tijjani (Reijnders) would know that I still gave it an extra touch.”
The 25-year-old continued about competition for places at United, “At the moment, that means I am mainly coming on as a substitute.”
“And in the end, I have to do something about that myself, even if it isn’t easy. Even so, it was still quite a big surprise that the coach called me up.”
“I absolutely did not expect a call-up. I’m obviously not a starter, so it did give me a good feeling that the coach had confidence in me to call me up. But absolutely not expected, no.”
So far this term, Zirkzee has made four appearances for Manchester United across all competitions.
United are next in action on Saturday when they host Tottenham Hotspur.
Featured image by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
