Six and a half years on from that dazzling emergence in Munich, Joshua Zirkzee stands at a crossroads that feels uncomfortably familiar. The promise is still there. The breakthrough still isn’t.
Now approaching 25 and into his second season at Manchester United, the Dutch forward was supposed to have taken the decisive step in 2024. A big club, a big fee, a big stage. Instead, he has slipped into the shadows. The team is thriving; he is not.
Since Ruben Amorim’s dismissal and Michael Carrick’s appointment in January, Zirkzee’s role has shrunk to a footnote. Ten Premier League games under the new manager, just 28 minutes on the pitch. No goals, no assists, no real argument for more.
And crucially, United are winning without him.
Carrick has steadied the club and built a core he trusts. Twenty-three points from those ten league matches have pushed United back up to third, on course for a first Champions League qualification since 2023. Up front, Benjamin Sesko has scored five, Bryan Mbeumo has chipped in with three goals and two assists, and Matheus Cunha has three and three. They are producing. Zirkzee is watching.
His problem is as simple as it is damning for a modern No. 9: he is not decisive often enough.
The perception of Zirkzee has always been shaped by that fairytale start at Bayern. A teenager stepping into a superclub and scoring at key moments – it looked like the beginning of something irresistible. But even then, the numbers beneath the story hinted at a different truth. While he was catching headlines with the first team, he was toiling with Bayern’s third-tier side, going 13 league games without a goal and registering only two assists.
The magic never really turned into momentum.
In the treble-winning 2019/20 season, interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, he added just two more goals for the first team and faded from the picture. He played no part in the Champions League final tournament in Portugal. The hype cooled quickly.
Inside the club, the warnings came early. In spring 2020, Jochen Sauer, then head of Bayern’s youth academy and one of the key figures behind Zirkzee’s move from Feyenoord in 2017, struck a pointed note of caution. “Joshua is sometimes the sort of player who only jumps as high as he absolutely has to,” he told kicker. Sauer spoke of a player who needed more “hunger and the will to work hard and force the goal” and someone who should be “taken out of his comfort zone from time to time.”
The theme would follow him.
When Zirkzee remained only a bit-part player under Hansi Flick the following season, the Bayern coach went public with his frustration. “Talent alone isn’t always enough,” Flick said, choosing instead to rely on veteran Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting as Robert Lewandowski’s understudy. Flick did not doubt the forward’s ability: “He has the quality to play in the Bundesliga; we’re all convinced of that. But it’s also a bit about mentality, attitude, and the unconditional will to show what you’re capable of.”
The message was clear. Bayern were not seeing that will often enough.
His spell in Munich fizzled out. A loan to Parma Calcio in Serie A in the winter window was meant to give him the platform he needed. It never materialised. Zirkzee struggled to secure a regular starting spot, then picked up an injury. Four appearances, no impact, and Parma sank to the bottom of the table and out of Serie A.
The next move finally showcased what he can be when it all clicks.
At RSC Anderlecht in 2021/22, Zirkzee found a coach who believed in him completely: Vincent Kompany. The Belgian made him his first-choice centre-forward from day one, and the Dutchman responded with the best season of his career. Forty-seven of a possible 48 matches, 18 goals, 13 assists. Thirty-one direct goal involvements and a genuine sense that this was the version of Zirkzee Bayern had once imagined.
He spoke warmly of Kompany later in an interview with the English Mirror. “Kompany was the manager who explained so much to me about the game and the little details. The year under him was very important for my development – and he also made sure I played the whole time.”
Yet even in that golden year, the old questions did not vanish. A viral clip of Kompany angrily berating Zirkzee over his attitude and body language underlined that the trust came with demands. Kompany pushed him hard because he felt there was more to come. Perhaps much more.
Back in Munich, though, that season in Belgium did not convince Julian Nagelsmann. Bayern chose not to reintegrate him. Instead, they sold him to Bologna in 2022 for €8.5 million, with a smart package attached: €1 million for every 25 matches played, a buy-back option, and a significant resale clause.
From a business standpoint, it was shrewd. From Bayern’s, it has been a masterstroke.
After some early adjustment in Serie A, Zirkzee flourished in Bologna. His touch, his link-up play, his creativity between the lines earned rave reviews from the Italian press. He became a central figure in a side that stunned the league by qualifying for the Champions League in 2024. His stock soared.
Manchester United came calling with a cheque for €42.5 million. Half of that fee flowed back to Munich thanks to the resale clause. For a player originally signed for around €100,000 in training compensation, Bayern have now banked more than €30 million. Hasan Salihamidzic, the then sporting director who insisted on that hefty sell-on clause, still sees this deal held up as one of his finest pieces of business.
“Brazzo always keeps an eye on the economic conditions,” president Herbert Hainer said at the time. Lothar Matthäus went even further: “Hasan gets top marks for the signings – and a gold star for the sales.”
For Zirkzee himself, the move has been far less rewarding on the pitch.
Under three managers at Old Trafford – Erik ten Hag, Amorim and now Carrick – he has never truly nailed down a place. There have been flashes, little reminders of that tall, elegant forward who can slip passes through tight gaps or finish with calm precision. But the output has not matched the price tag or the expectation.
Seven goals in all competitions in his debut season. Just two more so far in the current campaign. Across his entire professional career, he stands at 45 goals. For a forward of his technical gifts, that number lags behind the narrative that once surrounded him.
Those who doubted the wisdom of his Premier League move feel vindicated. They argued he lacked the dynamism and intensity that the English game demands week after week. The evidence on the pitch has not helped his case.
A summer exit now feels more likely than not, even with a contract that runs until 2029.
The idea of a return to Munich carries a certain romance. Harry Kane’s backup role is expected to open up, and Kompany’s presence on the Bayern bench would offer a reunion with the coach who once brought the best from him. It is an appealing storyline, but not the most realistic one.
Italy makes far more sense.
In Serie A, Zirkzee enjoys a strong reputation from his Bologna days and would have a much better chance of walking straight into a starting role. The winter window already brought rumours of interest from AS Roma and Juventus, both fighting for Champions League spots. AC Milan and Inter have also been mentioned as potential destinations.
For the Dutchman, a return to Italy could be more than a career detour. It could be a reset.
His place with the national team has slipped away; the 2024 European Championship participant has not been called up for almost 18 months. If he wants to fight his way back into the Oranje setup and finally turn talent into a consistent top-level career, he needs a league, a club, and a coach willing to build around him – and a stage where he delivers, not just promises.
The next move will say everything about what Joshua Zirkzee wants to be: a gifted nearly-man, or the forward who finally jumps higher than he has to.
