Romano: United shortlisted prolific PL duo ‘weeks ago’, Zirkzee signing won’t hinder their pursuit

4 months ago 26

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Dan Ashworth and the rest of Sir Jim Racliffe’s newly-appointed INEOS chiefs have certainly got straight down to business in the summer transfer window.

Yesterday, Manchester United announced their first arrival of the summer – and the INEOS era – in the form of Joshua Zirkzee, who signed on a five-year deal from Bologna.

They remain locked in negotiations with Bayern Munich for Matthijs de Ligt and are thought to be preparing a third bid to test Everton’s resolve for Jarrad Branthwaite. Keen to not overpay, United have failed to meet the Toffees’ demands in their first two proposals.

Despite targeting Zirkzee as a replacement for Anthony Martial, the forward additions may not stop there. The 23-year-old Dutchman joins 21-year-old Rasmus Hojlund in leading Erik ten Hag’s frontline, so an experienced, senior centre-forward to accompany the developing pair wouldn’t go amiss.

That’s why Ashworth and Co. have begun scouring the market for Premier League-proven strikers to potentially snap up before the window closes. Reports have strongly suggested that Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin are of interest to United, and moves could well be made in the coming weeks.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed the club’s shortlisting of the pair but insists they haven’t ignited their pursuit just yet.

What Romano has said about Toney and Calvert-Lewin

“At the moment, I’m not aware of anything advanced for these two players [Ivan Toney and Dominic Calvert-Lewin]. They’ve discussed these players internally, but it was already weeks ago when they were considering several options,” Romano told GiveMeSport.

“Around the end of May, [the] beginning of June, they were still deciding internally whether they want to sign an experienced striker like maybe a Toney, or a young striker like Joshua Zirkzee. Now they have closed the Zirkzee deal, then we will see.”

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