Joshua Zirkzee is officially a Red Devil and Manchester United have now shared his first interview since making the switch.
Manchester United’s first signing of the Ineos era was Joshua Zirkzee for £36m, reinforcing the striker position which was previously a priority.
Zirkzee arrives and looks set to be followed by Leny Yoro from Lille, as both address key concerns in the squad right now.
Having signed his contract at Carrington already, Zirkzee has been speaking about the move in his inaugural interview for the club.
In doing so, he’s admitted his admiration for a former United player who he rejected recently.
Joshua Zirkzee on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s impact
Manchester United club media have now posted Joshua Zirkzee’s first-ever interview as a Red Devil, and in doing so he picked out a few players who have moulded his career.
One of which happened to be Zlatan Ibrahimovic who bagged 17 goals and five assists in his one real season at Old Trafford.
“As I grew older Ibrahimovic as well was someone I looked up to”.
Zirkzee will have let Zlatan down recently, by moving to United instead of AC Milan, with the Swedish striker being the transfer advisor to Milan.
Continuing, Zirkzee admitted that while he was a fan of Zlatan, it was Brazilian icon Ronaldinho who he completely idolised.
“Ronaldinho was for sure my hero… [He] was my favourite.”
Of course, Ronaldinho never played for United, despite Sir Alex Ferguson’s desire to have him at one point.
Zirkzee has been compared with Ronaldinho in the past by Thiago Motta. While stylistically he resembles Zlatan.
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Zirkzee will also be excited to work with Ruud Van Nistelrooy
After discussing both Ronaldinho and Zlatan, Zirkzee was asked about the coaching staff at United where he stated that it’s a ‘privilege’ to be working under Erik ten Hag.
Continuing, he was asked about new coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who seems to also be a bit of a hero to United’s new striker.
“When I was younger, watching the Dutch national team, Manchester United, yeah he was one of the guys who you were pretending to be when you were playing out with friends, so having him now here is obviously a bit special.”
For Zirkzee, working with Van Nistelrooy will be an exciting prospect, and he’ll be excited to get started with the Dutchman likely to have a huge effect on him.