Over the past few weeks, the Italian media have been reporting AS Roma are keen on signing Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee in the winter market.
On Wednesday, claims from Italy stated Roma sporting director Frederic Massara has been pressing Manchester United and the forward’s entourage.
Two days ago, Corriere della Sera reported Massara has been speaking to Zirkzee’s agent Kia Joorabchian.
Calciomercato report AC Milan have also shown interest in the 24-year-old.
Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri prefers a physically strong and direct striker. This means their league rivals currently appear to be in pole position to sign Zirkzee.
The Netherlands international is ‘in talks’ with Roma. These negotiations are said to be ‘ongoing and very concrete’.
Zirkzee is lacking confidence from both Ruben Amorim and the Red Devils. He wants a project where he will have a key role unlike the limited game time [354 minutes] he has had at Manchester United this season.
Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo take part in AFCON. Therefore, they will only consider sanctioning Zirkzee’s move in the latter stages of the window.
Behind the scenes, the Roma official has already started working on this operation.
It’s claimed Massara has secured almost a total opening from the Dutchman’s agent. He has also received a green light from Roma owners to directly negotiate with Manchester United.
The Giallorossi still need to find a financial agreement with both the player and his current club.
Calciomercato reports the negotiations between the clubs will be for loan with favourable terms to activate the purchase obligation. The overall deal [loan fee + obligation to buy] would be around €35m.
These are ‘hot negotiations’ for Zirkzee, but the operation is unlikely to be closed until the second half of January.