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Juventus chief Cristiano Giuntoli has refused to rule out a move for Joshua Zirkzee, stressing that the club are open to ‘any interesting opportunities’ this January.
Zirkzee has fallen some way short of expectations following a £36.5million switch from Bologna to Manchester United in the summer and speculation is mounting that the 23-year-old could be set for a return to Italy this month.
On Monday, Zirkzee’s Old Trafford spell hit a new low as he was hauled off by Ruben Amorim just 33 minutes into United’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle – the club’s fourth straight loss in all competitions.
To make matters worse, boos and jeers could be heard as Zirkzee made his way off the pitch to be replaced by Kobbie Mainoo and Amorim later confirmed the substitution was tactical as the Dutchman was ‘suffering’.
Reports emanating out of Italy in the intervening days have claimed Zirkzee actively wants to push through a move to Juventus, where he would be reunited with Thiago Motta – his former manager at Bologna.
Though Motta has himself played down these rumours, the club’s sporting director left the door open when quizzed on Juve’s plans in the January transfer market this week.
First asked about Danilo’s potential departure from Turin, Giuntoli explained: ‘We found an agreement with his entourage and we are looking for a solution that works for both him and Juventus.
‘When a player is on the market, there must be mutual agreement between both parties.
‘Zirkzee? It’s not appropriate to mention names. But we are keeping an eye on any interesting opportunities and we will move to strengthen the defence.
On Juventus actively looking to invest in younger talent, Giuntoli added: ‘It will definitely be a virtuous path
‘We are convinced of the direction we’re heading to. It just takes a bit of time.’
In the wake of Zirkzee’s early substitution against Newcastle, club legend Rio Ferdinand said he was ‘really gutted’ for the forward and encouraged United’s senior players to offer him their support.
‘I feel for him. I’m really, really gutted for him as a former professional footballer,’ the former United and England defender said on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
‘To be dragged off after 30 minutes is hard to take and then the reaction in the stadium as well, there was some boos and stuff like that. It’s difficult, man.
‘My heart goes out to him and I hope he can recover and I hope he gets rebuilt from within, from the players and the manager.
‘The manager said, “I’m going to go and speak to him because it was a tactical decision”, but what I would say is that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen.
‘We’ve seen better players come back from this, we’ve seen some bigger and better players dragged off at these times in a game and it’s about having the resilience to come back as well.’
Ferdinand added: ‘This is a tough situation, I know that, but he needs people like Bruno, the captain of the team, who needs to set the right example discipline-wise but also in terms of a reaction to certain situations.
‘We need people like him [Fernandes] to go and get around Zirkzee and make sure, “You know what, this ain’t the end for you, there’s a future here”. One thing I would say is we’re not seeing the best of any of our players right now and we’ve been saying that for a long time anyway.
‘But I think the manager needs to get to a pre-season and to really hammer home his ideas and then we can have a real judgement on him as a manager.’
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