JOSHUA ZIRKZEE arrived at Manchester United (England) a stone overweight – and Erik ten Hag didn’t even want him.
The £36.5million flop has scored just once this season and has started only four of United’s twelve Premier League games.
Now SunSport can reveal not only did he arrive at United out of shape — it has taken a while to shift that extra weight.
His condition left manager Ten Hag unhappy as he was not his choice of striker in the first place.
His arrival from Bologna was instigated by Ineos’ new management team – who identified the 23-year-old as good value for money.
That is a huge matter for debate now with many fans still wondering if he is up to the fitness levels needed to be a Prem player.
Zirkzee scored on his debut against Fulham – coming off the bench to grab a late winner in the Red Devils’ opening Premier League fixture of the season.
There has been nothing since from 15 appearances in all competition – seven of them starts.
The Dutch international’s last league start came against Tottenham at the end of September before his compatriot Ten Hag reverted back to Rasmus Hojlund, who had been unavailable at the season was delayed due to injury.
Zirkzee was only brought on by interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy in the 84th minute of Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea.
He immediately was given a chance when he was put through – but lacked the pace to get away from Wesley Fofana.
Bizarrely, Zirkzee later posted a picture on Instagram of the moment he was through on goal — even though it came to nothing.
He did not come to United with a great goalscoring reputation.
While the club desperately needed a No 9, there has been some debate whether Zirkzee is better suited to playing as a No 10.
The Dutchman began his career at Bayern Munich but they afforded him just 17 games in which he got four goals.
He was loaned out to Parma and Anderlecht before making a permanent move to Serie A and Bologna where he got just 14 goals in 58 appearances over two seasons.
Despite having moved to Bologna for just £7.15m his worth had rocketed when United came calling on the back of those two seasons.
New Sporting Director Dan Ashworth alongside Technical Director Jason Wilcox are the men who have been tasked by part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to improve United’s recruitment.
Zirkzee missed United’s pre-season training camp despite having only played two minutes of Holland’s Euro campaign – in their 2-1 defeat to England in the semi-finals.
Rather than join the team at their training camp in Los Angeles, he took his allotted time off.
That raised eyebrows among some close to the club given that he was holidaying in LA at the same time United were there and called in only to say hello to his new team-mates.
United have had their worst start to a season since 1986-87 with just 12 points from 10 games and stand 13th in the table.
They are one of only three clubs not to be in double figures for goals scored.
