Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee is getting closer to the exit door and Juventus are drawing up plans for a deal.
In January, Sport Witness were close to the coverage around the Dutchman. AS Roma were pushing for his signature and the player was keen on playing under Gian Piero Gasperini.
Manchester United’s demands proved to be a big problem, as they never opened the door to a loan exit.
Things didn’t improve for Zirkzee in the second half of the season, though. He remained a bit-part player under Michael Carrick and is now attracting attention from Juventus.
The Old Lady are pushing for a deal.
Free loan being explored
Today’s Gazzetta dello Sport covers Juve’s plans for the move. The attacker has expressed his willingness ‘in principle’ to join the Bianconeri and now, Manchester United have also opened up to loaning him out.
There is willingness on the Red Devils’ side to secure Zirkzee’s exit soon. This has handed encouragement to Juve, with sporting director Ricky Massara behind Roma’s move for the player in January. He doesn’t want to miss out on the player now, even if Jonathan David’s exit is yet to go through.
Juventus’ ideal scenario is to convince Manchester United on a free loan deal. They do not want an obligation to buy. They want to replicate what Barcelona did with Marcus Rashford and what Napoli did with Rasmus Hojlund. This will give them a higher control in the deal instead of completely giving in to Red Devils’ demands.
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David’s situation also holds the key. Juve do value him and the player is keen on impressing Luciano Spalletti.
But Massara doesn’t want to miss out on Zirkzee again and sees the developing situation as a transfer opportunity. As a result, optimism is growing that a deal can be done.
Our take: Juve already burnt by Openda deal
Every deal at this stage of the window requires compromise. So if Manchester United agree to a free loan, Juve may have to accept an obligation to buy.
Having a deal done completely on their terms would be quite difficult.
Earlier this year, Juve were left burnt by a deal involving Lois Openda. They had an obligation to buy on the basis of easily attainable conditions. They would want to avoid that scenario in Zirkzee’s case.
So it would make more sense for them to pay a loan fee upfront and seek an option to buy.
Sportwitness
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