Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says new signing Joshua Zirkzee is “close” to being ready to start for the Premier League season opener against Fulham on Friday.
Zirkzee, 23, joined United from Bologna for €42.5million (£35.8m; $46.2m) last month but has yet to feature for his new side ahead of the season.
The forward reached the semi-finals of the European Championship with the Netherlands, delaying his linking up with the United squad for pre-season. He was an unused substitute for last Saturday’s Community Shield defeat by Manchester City.
“I think he is close so that is one of the complications,” Ten Hag said. “We didn’t have a pre-season with him so we need games to bring him.
“If you see his background, in the last months he had an injury with Bologna, in the end he made the selection for the Netherlands, so that had him out of our first few weeks of pre-season, so no games — that is his problem in this moment.
“But now it is his third week in training, you see him stepping up, his fitness levels are improving and he needs more minutes and we can’t do it in a friendly, it has to go into the league.”
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Ten Hag has already confirmed that two other new signings, Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, will be in the squad to face Fulham at Old Trafford after they joined from Bayern Munich this week.
The former Bayern pair are in line to feature in Friday’s matchday squad (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
United will, though, be without Rasmus Hojlund until mid-September due to an injury the Danish striker sustained in pre-season, meaning Zirkzee is likely to be Ten Hag’s only senior No 9 available. Club captain Bruno Fernandes started up front for United against City.
“I think we have two young strikers who have the potential to grow into top-class strikers in Hojlund and Zirkzee,” Ten Hag added.
“I am so happy I have those choices, that fits for all units, all positions, we need a number of players going into the season.
“We think about 60 games so it will be a survival of the fittest, we need squad depth. You have to make choices and you need rotation. No player can play all the games but also internal competition and you also need some weapons to use tactically.
“I am very happy we have those numbers and we have quality players so we can make those choices. We also have quality players with different abilities and that is good to have them in the squad.”
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(Top photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
