Wright claims summer signing ‘won’t make it’ at Man Utd as Amorim responds to Gyokeres link
Arsenal legend Ian Wright doubts Man Utd summer signing Joshua Zirkzee will “make it” in any formation that Ruben Amorim deploys at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils appointed Amorim on Friday but the Portuguese coach will not move to Man Utd until November 11 ahead of the next international break.
Man Utd are currently 13th in the Premier League table having won just three of their ten matches, while only Crystal Palace and Southampton have scored fewer goals than them.
Increasing the Red Devils’ goalscoring output could be Amorim’s biggest challenge initially at Old Trafford with Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund unlikely to be prolific this season.
And Wright doubts Zirkzee – who signed from Bologna for £36.5m in the summer – will ever succeed at Man Utd from what he’s seen from the Netherlands international so far.
The Arsenal legend said on his Wrighty’s House podcast: “Do you know something? When I look at the strikers at Manchester United, I look at [Rasmus] Hojlund and Zirkzee.
“Going forward, as a United player to take the club to the level they need to be – top-four, Champions League, title challengers – I can’t see in any formation Zirkzee making it from what I’ve seen so far.
“I can see it with Hojlund, he looks like a future player with better players around him. He gives me the impression that if he gets in and around the box and he gets chances, he can go hot.
“I don’t see the same with Zirkzee. I look at him and his movement, I don’t see anything in his game that makes me think, “okay, there he is, I see what he can do”.
“I see that in Hojlund and some of the others. I can see them easily levelling up but I feel for Zirkzee.
“United still need a striker. Whether they turn Marcus [Rashford] into that or they get a top striker in, they need one, to go alongside Hojlund and maybe for Hojlund to be the back-up.
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“I’m trying to think of Ruben Amorim coming in and who he’s going to play. Zirkzee will need to go through some massive transformation to play in the team ahead of other players.
“He’s definitely not a natural goalscorer. I’m still waiting to see it from him.”
Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Man City on Tuesday night, is one striker who is being linked with a move to Man Utd, with rumours ramping up after Amorim’s appointment.
When asked if he is interested in bringing Gyokeres to Man Utd, Amorim replied: “I’ve just made peace with the Sporting fans, I’m not even going to make a joke about it.
“Gyokeres is a Sporting player, which is a great club, he did a lot for it, he was in the second division, he just has to stay and finish the season at Marques.”
When asked the same question in a different interview, Amorim said: “No, no, no. I cannot be funny with that in this moment.
“It was tough for me to leave, if I start joking about that with Gyokeres, I’ll have problems. This is my city, this is my country, I will respect.
“Viktor has to stay until the end of the season and then his life is going, maybe, somewhere else.”
