Carrick Doesn't Rate Him: Joshua Zirkzee's Man Utd Career is Over

· GiveMeSport

The Manchester United star will surely be leaving Old Trafford in 2027

Man United fans would have been expecting a strong start to the campaign when looking at the club's fixture list, with matches against newly-promoted duo Hull City and Ipswich Town, as well as Everton and Fulham, in their opening five Premier League games of the season.

While the Red Devils did comfortably dispatch the Tractor Boys at Old Trafford, that was their only league win of the campaign, and they took five points from a possible 12 available in those games, also losing to Manchester City.

United did comfortably beat Sabah 4-0 in the Champions League at the Theatre of Dreams, as they were expected to do, but they also surrendered a 2-0 lead on their own turf to lose 3-2 to Brighton and Hove Albion in the EFL Cup.

That is one trophy opportunity gone for the club this term, while they are a million miles away from being Premier League title contenders based on their performances and results.

United have been particularly concerning from a defensive point of view, conceding two goals each in the games against Hull, Everton and Ipswich, while the collapse against Brighton was the first time in 50 years they had been 2-0 up at home and gone on to lose.

Carrick has largely stuck with his most experienced players - Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot - when they have been fit this season, with the likes of Leny Yoro, Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu struggling to get a look in.

When Man United Current First-Choice Defence Joined

Dorgu did feature during Shaw's three-game absence, while Yoro may have forced himself into contention following an outstanding debut performance for France this week, given the club's defensive struggles.

United haven't been particularly strong in attack either though, with Benjamin Sesko only fit enough to make two starts in all competitions this term, with none of those coming in the Premier League.

Joshua Zirkzee would be the most natural back-up to Sesko, but Carrick has decided to go in a different direction instead.

Zirkzee arrived at Old Trafford with a lot of promise and tipped as a player with 'world-class' potential by Dan Ashworth, but his United career hasn't gone well from the very start.

His Dutch compatriot Erik ten Hag no doubt had a say on the €42.5m transfer in the summer of 2024, yet a couple of months after the move was completed, he was sacked and replaced by Ruben Amorim.

The 25-year-old has found his minutes limited under the Portuguese boss and Carrick ever since, with the majority of his appearances coming from the bench, and it was probably a surprise that he actually remained at the club during the summer.

Zirkzee's Manchester United Record

However, with the club having little back-up for Sesko, and with the Slovenia international suffering from injury issues recently, it made sense to keep him around, especially given he is considered to be a really popular member of the dressing room .

Despite his limited minutes, he did get a call-up to the Netherlands squad recently, scoring the winning goal in the 2-1 win against Serbia on Sunday.

Post-match, Zirkzee acknowledged that he needs to be doing more at club level to get more minutes for United.

> At the moment, that means I am mainly coming on as a substitute. And in the end, I have to do something about that myself, even if it isn't easy. Even so, it was still quite a big surprise that the coach [Xavi] called me up.

The strange thing is that Zirkzee has the physical profile to be able to step-in for Sesko if needed, but Carrick clearly doesn't rate or trust him enough to do that.

The 45-year-old has preferred to play Matheus Cunha there instead, and the former Wolves man looks nowhere near as threatening as he was from the left flank last season.

Sesko looks unlikely to be available for Tottenham on Saturday, so Carrick is facing another big decision as to whether to go with Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo through the centre, or consider giving Zirkzee a chance.

Zirkzee this season

The latter remains unlikely, and it's obvious to see that he has no long-term future at Old Trafford. It's time for the two parties to finally part ways in 2027.

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