Man Utd confirm ‘official’ bid for January transfer has been ‘received’ | OneFootball

Manchester United have ‘received’ an ‘official’ offer to sign one of their unhappiest players, and Fabrizio Romano has confirmed United are giving it serious consideration.

Ruben Amorim’s arrival at Old Trafford has benefitted some and hindered others. Up until yesterday, Amorim had lived and died by his 3-4-2-1 formation before finally switching it up to a 4-2-3-1 versus Newcastle.

Kobbie Mainoo is one player whose game-time has been drastically effected by Amorim taking charge in Manchester. Another is Joshua Zirkzee.

The former Bologna frontman is widely known to be unhappy with his lack of opportunities this season, with his chances of making the Netherlands squad for the 2026 World Cup slowly going up in flames.

Zirkzee has been an unused substitute seven times in the Premier League this season. What few starts he has made only arose when Benjamin Sesko was injured.

Zirkzee is open to moving on in January and Man Utd are receptive to doing business, though only on their terms.

Amorim doesn’t want to deplete his squad further at a time when injuries are rife and players are absent at AFCON. A departure after the AFCON players return would be more palateable.

However, that hasn’t stopped Zirkzee’s primary suitor, Roma, from testing the waters nice and early.

Taking to his Italian language YouTube channel, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano confirmed Man Utd have now received an official bid from Roma.

“Manchester United have confirmed that they have received an official offer from Roma for Joshua Zirkzee,” declared Romano.

“It is a loan deal with a conditional obligation to buy, and Manchester United have confirmed, through intermediaries, that they have received this proposal from Roma.

“Manchester United, as I told you in the days before Christmas, are taking their time.”

Zirkzee can be the ‘hero of Rome’

Obligations to buy are sometimes conditional, such as a player being required to make X number of appearances during the loan spell to trigger the clause.

But if pre-Christmas reporting from Romano is anything to go by, Roma’s intention is to sign Zirkzee outright, and if accepting the loan, Man Utd would be locking themselves into a permanent sale in the summer.

That’s because during positive discussions between Roma and Zirkzee over personal terms, the Serie A side have vowed to make Zirkzee the cornerstone of their attack for many years to come.

Romano stated just under one week ago: “We will see what happens with Semenyo, and this, guys, remember this point, could be an important deal to understand what happens with Joshua Zirkzee.”

Romano continued: “Last week a meeting took place between Roma and the agents of Joshua Zirkzee. This week, Roma have been advancing in the conversations with the camp of Zirkzee.

“Roma are pushing, they want the player and consider him a top priority. The manager of Roma, Gian Piero Gasperini, is pushing to have the player as soon as possible at the beginning of January.

“Man Utd don’t want Zirkzee to leave at the beginning of January because they are short of options with Amad [Diallo] and [Bryan] Mbeumo at AFCON, Bruno [Fernandes] now injured, [Kobbie] Mainoo at the moment still not available.

“So Man Utd at the moment are still not giving the green light. Let’s see the timing and let’s see the official proposal from Roma, what kind of formula it’ll be.

“But on the player side Roma are making some progress. They’re trying to tempt Zirkzee by telling the player something like ‘here, you can be a regular starter, play every game, Italian and European football, you can be the hero of the city of Rome.’”

Romano concluded by stating Zirkzee is “open” to making the move to Roma and the deal now depends on Man Utd.

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In other news, a central midfielder Manchester United let go in 2021 is flying up the club’s transfer shortlist and a report claims a deal could be made as early as next month.

One of United’s summer signings is proving to be good enough to be their regular starter for the next decade, according to Rio Ferdinand, despite the club’s initial plan being to monitor him and decide if they need an upgrade next year.