Joshua Zirkzee shows true colours with dramatic career U-turn and transfer to Man Utd
Manchester United's newest signing Joshua Zirkzee could have made his first foray into English football back in 2017 but rejected the opportunity before joining Bayern Munich
Joshua Zirkzee has joined Manchester United seven years after rejecting a move to Everton because he finally feels ready to compete in the Premier League.
Zirzkee completed a £36.5million move to the Red Devils on Sunday and is set to make his English football debut when returning from holiday after his Netherlands' Euro 2024 participation.
Having played professionally in Germany, Belgium, and Italy, the 23-year-old has already had a taste of what it's like playing for a Premier League club, albeit with Everton's Under-19s in 2017.
During his time in Feyenoord's academy, the forward was a hot commodity for several clubs, including Arsenal, as a move to the Toffees looked certain after he turned out for the club in a youth tournament in Prague.
Everton's then-manager Ronald Koeman looked to have secured the major coup of Zirkzee thanks to his connection with Feyenoord, who he played for and then later managed for three years.
But despite the move being close to completion, Zirkzee, who was 16 at the time, turned it down due to the difficulty of breaking through in English football. He told the Dutch publication HLN: "I could have gone to Everton, they pressed hard, but breaking through in England, that's complex".
While many players make that move a touch too early in their career, Zirkzee decided to continue his footballing education in his native Netherlands before securing a transfer to Bayern Munich a year later where he won the continental Treble in the 2019/20 season.
After a fruitful season at Bologna where he bagged 12 goals across all competitions to clinch the club's unlikely qualification for the Champions League next season, Zirkzee has U-turned on his previous opinion and now feels ready to test himself in England, and will be doing it in Manchester as the first signing of the INEOS era.
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