Joshua Zirkzee’s Manchester United chapter is over. The Dutch forward is heading to Everton, ending a spell at Old Trafford that started with genuine promise and steadily dissolved into bench appearances and transfer speculation.
United paid £36.5 million to bring Zirkzee in from Bologna in July 2024. Two years later, they’re cutting their losses on a player who never quite fit the system Ruben Amorim was trying to build.
From Serie A sensation to squad player
Zirkzee’s arrival at United wasn’t some panic buy. He’d just been named Serie A’s best Under-23 player for the 2023-24 season. The early returns were decent. Zirkzee managed nine goals across 75 appearances for United.
But the 2025-26 season told a different story. Just five Premier League starts. For a player United had invested north of £36 million in barely 18 months earlier, that kind of marginalization sends a clear message.
