Bryan Mbeumo has been impressed from what he has seen of his fellow Manchester United forward in training at Carrington over the last few months
Bryan Mbeumo during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Bryan Mbeumo has impressed since joining Manchester United in the summer. (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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Manchester United summer signing Bryan Mbeumo has named striker Joshua Zirkzee as the player who has surprised him most at the club since joining.
Mbeumo has impressed since making the move from Brentford to United for a £65 million fee back in the summer transfer window. But it’s not been as easy for Zirkzee, who arrived at the club from Bologna for £36.5 million a year earlier.
The Dutchman has so far scored nine goals in 67 appearances in all competitions for United. In comparison, Mbeumo has already scored 10 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions for the club.
It’s no surprise, then, that Mbeumo has been preferred ahead of Zirkzee in the starting line-up so far this season. However, speaking on Inside Carrington, alongside his fellow forward, Mbeumo has highlighted Zirkzee's quality.
When asked if there was anyone who has surprised him since he joined the club, he pointed towards Zirkzee and said: “This guy on my left.
“To be honest, I’m not watching football a lot, so obviously, when I joined, I knew the players but I didn’t know really how they were playing and I was really impressed with Josh because he’s a lot more skilful than I would have thought, with the ball and he can just hold the ball very easy with his body and a good strike.”
Joshua Zirkzee during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester United at London Stadium.
Joshua Zirkzee has struggled for regular game time so far this season. (Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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The comments come around a month after Zirkzee was heavily linked with a move away from United. Serie A side Roma were showing an interest and there were even reports in Italy that the player had agreed personal terms to join.
But Zirkzee was ultimately keen to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford. United also had a clear stance on any potential sale, with Roma director of football Frederic Massara saying: "Man United said no quite clearly a couple of weeks ago and they have not changed their minds."
Speaking back in January, before his sacking, then United boss Ruben Amorim, also made his stance clear. "I want to keep Josh because he gives everything and he’s trying in training but we don’t know,” he said at the beginning of the month.
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"The window is open and we will see what happens. We just need to focus on training and to take this for the other games."
Despite remaining at the club in January, Zirkzee has found regular game time hard to come by over the last few weeks. After recovering from a knock that saw him miss two games, the striker has played a total of 11 minutes over four Premier League games under interim boss Michael Carrick, coming on as a late substitute in the win over Tottenham and the draw against West Ham.