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Joshua Zirkzee appears to have confirmed that a move to Old Trafford is imminent, with eagle-eyed Manchester United fans spotting his not-so-subtle hints on Instagram.
United have prioritised a move for a new centre-forward to support Rasmus Hojlund this summer and Bologna striker Zirkzee has jumped right to the top of the club’s wishlist in recent weeks.
The Netherlands international racked up 11 goals and four assists for Bologna in Serie A last term and was a part of Ronald Koeman’s squad that got knocked out of Euro 2024 by England on Wednesday night.
The Red Devils have had to fend off strong competition from AC Milan for Zirkzee’s signature and widespread reports indicate that a deal, worth in the region of £33million, is close to being wrapped up for the 23-year-old.
Milan reached an initial agreement with Zirkzee earlier in the window but their move collapsed as they were unwilling to splash out an additional €15 million (£12.6m) in commission to the Dutchman’s representative Kia Joorabchian.
It’s understood Erik ten Hag personally spoke with his fellow countryman over the proposed move before personal terms were agreed.
United are expected to officially announce Zirkzee’s arrival over the coming days but many supporters believe the attacker has already all but confirmed his impending switch to the Theatre of Dreams.
Rather tellingly, Zirkzee has ‘liked’ two separate posts on the Instagram page of transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, the second of which reads: ‘HERE WE GO! Man United agree to sign Joshua Zirkzee as first move for INEOS.’
Romano even reposted a screenshot of Zirkzee’s antics to his profile on X along with a shaking hands emoji – suggesting that it was only a matter of time before United unveiled their summer signing.
Following the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over Turkey at Euro 2024, Zirkzee refused to confirm whether or not he would be a Bologna player come the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Asked if he will still be playing in Italy next season, Zirkzee told Sportitalia: ‘I don’t know, let’s see.’
Pressed on whether there was a 50 per cent chance that he could stay at Bologna, Zirkzee responded: ‘Let’s see.’
It comes after Bologna’s technical director, Giovanni Sartori, admitted the club were already exploring the market for Zirkzee’s potential successor up front.
‘Zirkzee has a release clause so he will leave 99.9 per cent,’ Sartori told Sky Sport Italia.
‘We have been thinking about his replacement for months.
‘It won’t be easy but we will work to replace him, we already have some names, some ideas.’
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