Manchester United accept their upper midtable fate with Joshua Zirkzee
Sometimes the eyes and the stats tell a different story, and most of the time you should probably land on the side of the stats when it happens
I am not making friends with the fans of Manchester United lately.
I have had a skeptical view on the current level of Kobbie Mainoo, especially as a deeper midfielder and that got my into trouble with them. Now I have expressed skepticism about their latest striker signing (and former Arsenal link) Joshua Zirkzee and it is getting the same reception.
I can’t blame them.
Outside of a handful of voices I would probably disregard the views of Manchester United fans if they were commenting on Arsenal players too. I try not to come into this with tribalism blinding me, but perhaps it seeps in unconsciously.
With Zirkzee however I don’t think it is. I started developing my opinions on him very much with the idea that Arsenal might be targeting him, and even then I was left interested but also confused.
This player is one where I feel like the delta between the FEELING you get from watching him play and the actual output is pretty big. When you watch him, you can’t help but be drawn to him. He is ever present leading the line, making runs, and holding up play. He has obvious physical gifts with size and speed, this is complimented with a high technical level. His actions are clean, and it is obvious he has come through the highest-level academies and is well polished.
But it just doesn’t translate into actual production.
There are not that many players where it feels like eyes and the stats diverge nearly as much. My theory is that what Zirkzee does is eye catching and memorable, it just isn’t THAT valuable.
He gets a fair number of shots, he even strikes the ball and gets the ball on frame more often than average. Except his shooting locations are bad and it leads to a player that underwhelms at the main job of a striker.
He is praised for his ability to be a player outside of the box and one that will bring his teammates into the game except his numbers are also just average and from my view they don’t make up for his lack of good shots.
He is average as a striker for overall team passing usage in the final third, and he is below average at progressing the ball inside of the final third. He is rather good at creating chances for his teammates, but it doesn’t look like an elite trait for him.
Overall, it just looks like a promising but simply good player. Manchester United already have this kind of player in Rasmus Højlund (a player that I like the raw tools of better even if he has his own red flags, namely the lack of shots).
I will be interested to see how they manage to try and get both players on the field enough to develop and I just don’t see either of them as good enough to propel them back to the level that Manchester United desires to be. These players are both ones with buckets of talent but the moves to a club like Manchester United at this stage of their career feels off and like something that would be a detriment to their developing to the full potential given the general lack of patience that comes with that level.
I get that they are betting on youth and upside with him (and Hojlund) and that is commendable. What will be important is if they match that with willingness to be patient and truly accept where they are in the pecking order doing this rebuild because this move is one that will limit their ceiling in the upper midtable for the next couple of seasons with these players.