Joshua Zirkzee has reportedly changed course and is now reluctant to leave Manchester United, convinced his opportunities will grow once European football returns next season. The 24-year-old was previously linked with a departure, with a move back to Serie A after a productive spell at Bologna thought to be possible as he sought World Cup preparation.<\/p>\n
That route has lost urgency. With less than three months until the World Cup and no national team call-up for 18 months \u2014 his last selection came in November 2024 \u2014 leaving to chase tournament minutes no longer holds the same appeal.<\/p>\n
According to the Daily Mail, Zirkzee is “eager to stay” and is “determined” to remain at the club. Those statements do not guarantee his future at Old Trafford, but they underline the player\u2019s preference to fight for a place rather than seek an exit. United are expected to prioritise transfers in other areas of the squad, which should limit extra competition for forward positions.<\/p>\n
If the club chooses to move Zirkzee on, signing a replacement would be necessary, making any departure a decision taken by the club rather than the player.<\/p>\n
United will complete the 2025\u201326 campaign having played only 40 matches, the fewest fixtures in a season for the club since 1914\u201315. A top-five finish in the Premier League and likely qualification for the Champions League will increase the fixture list significantly. Entry to the Champions League would add a minimum of eight matches, with progression beyond the league phase \u2014 requiring a top-24 finish \u2014 bringing at least one knockout tie.<\/p>\n
Further progress in domestic cups would increase those demands. Additional rounds in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup could add a further five or six matches, creating a clear need for greater squad depth. A player who performed well in Italy could be well suited to the European schedule.<\/p>\n
Perhaps reflecting that belief, Zirkzee has also expressed his strong feelings for Old Trafford, which he says doesn\u2019t compare to any other stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zirkzee is now “eager to stay” at United, seeing more minutes when European football returns by WC..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,1513],"tags":[1305,1066,1047],"class_list":["post-10410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-man-utd-transfer-news","tag-bench-selection","tag-carabao-cup","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}