Manchester United in pole position to sign £42m striker thanks to Harry Kane…

Manchester United are reportedly in ‘pole position’ to bring Joshua Zirkzee to the Premier League this summer in a potential £43 million deal from Serie A outfit Bologna – thanks in part to Harry Kane.

Two years ago, at the start of the Erik ten Hag reign, Manchester United seriously considered signing Marko Arnautovic.

And it’s fair to say suggestions that an ageing centre-forward could have been on his way to Old Trafford – in the same summer that City signed Erling Haaland– were not particularly well received.

Flash forward to early 2024, the first few weeks of the INEOS regime, and the Red Devils are again being linked with a Bologna forward.

The contrast between that Arnautovic saga and their interest in Joshua Zirkzee, however, feels somewhat symbolic.

A metaphor, perhaps, for the long-awaited shift from the total lack of ambition of the Glazer era and towards the forward-thinking, long-term plans put in place by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co.

According to Sport Italia

, Manchester United are in ‘pole position’ to sign Zirkzee once the current campaign comes to an end.

If Arnautovic was a short-term sticking plaster sort of signing, then the opposite is true of a silky, skilful 22-year-old over a decade the Austrian’s junior.

Zirkzee is just getting started. And, after being sold by Bayern Munich, there is a sense that the one-time Feyenoord prospect would relish another chance to prove he belongs at the very highest level of the European game.

Readmore…

He can reach any level because he is a player who has made an incredible leap in quality, both technically and mentally in the last four months. In my opinion, he can reach very high levels,” Giovanni Sartori, Bologna’s technical director, tells Tuttomercatoweb.