Erik ten Hag in direct contact with Joshua Zirkzee, hoping to convince him to join Man United | OneFootball

Finding a strike partner to ease the burden on Rasmus Hojlund has so far proven to be more difficult than anticipated for Manchester United.

The Dane was clearly overplayed in his debut season with Erik ten Hag forced to rely on him due to the lack of alternate options at his disposal. The Glazers did not help with further reinforcements last summer and in January.

Despite playing under difficult circumstances, the former Atalanta starlet emerged as the top scorer and the 20-time English league champions were enormously impressed and consider the Denmark international to be their man main upfront moving forward.

They are trying to acquire someone who will be happy to play second fiddle at times. Joshua Zirkzee is rumoured to be the prime target but the Dutch striker has ambitions of being the focal point for his new team.

Zirkzee wants to play as the main man upfront

He scored 12 goals and assisted seven more as Bologna finished fifth with the striker’s displays attracting plenty of interest from within Italy and England.

There were reports that he is willing to stay back in Bologna, where he guaranteed to play as the No 9, while AC Milan are also keen on making the former Bayern Munich man their leading striker.

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The Dutch forward’s release clause of €40 million becomes active from Monday and it is set to remain valid until August as relayed by The Peoples Person recently.

While triggering the 23-year-old’s release clause will not be a problem for the Rossoneri, they have refused to pay the commision fees asked by the player’s agent.

United have no problems with doing either and now, Ten Hag has been tasked with trying to break the deadlock with the Dutch star.

EtH trying to convince Zirkzee

Sky Italia have claimed that the former Ajax boss is in direct contact with Zirkzee, hoping to convince him to ditch Serie A for Manchester. He has informed the Champions League winner that he is United’s top priority target this summer.

“Contacts between Manchester United and Zirkzee have continued in recent days. Ten Hag spoke to him, putting him at the top of his transfer targets,” the outlet reported.

Only time will tell whether this ploy works but United need to get their act together and soon. Pre-season training starts from July 8 and the club will begin their pre-season tour with a game against Rosenborg on July 15.

Ten Hag wants INEOS to acquire the majority of the players before then. Can they deliver is now the question that remains to be answered.

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