Before Joshua Zirkzee makes his Manchester United debut following a £36.5 million signing from Bologna, Erik ten Hag issues a severe warning to supporters on the striker’s progress timetable.

In July, United agreed to a five-year contract for £36.5 million to recruit the Netherlands international from Bologna. The 23-year-old striker has only recently begun working out with his teammates. Rasmus Hojlund, nevertheless, may make his Community Shield debut against Manchester City today due to a hamstring issue. Ten Hag remarked, “He will need to step up, and we will need to help him.” It’s not the same as when the team has a formal preseason. He had to train alone because he was going to the Euros. It will take a few weeks to accommodate him as we require time.

Visiting Manchester United and attending Wembley for the first time will undoubtedly greatly inspire him.However, he is also lacking in training; after taking a break and training alone, he has since spent a few days participating in team exercises.Knowing one character in Manchester will help with the bedding-in process, at least. He disclosed that he went to school with fellow United player Tyrell Malacia upon joining the team. In addition, Ten Hag attempted to minimise the importance of the Community Shield outcome, regardless of how it benefited his side.

Zirkzee has played three seasons at the highest level with Anderlecht and Bologna, scoring 12 goals in all competitions in 2023–24. His experience includes playing in European competitions and a few appearances at Euro 2024, when he substituted in during the Netherlands’ 2-1 semifinal loss to England. Despite playing a bit-part role in just nine games, he scored four goals to help Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga in 2019–20. Ten Hag continued, “He is very eager to do this because he is looking forward to and excited to be joining the Premier League.”

“We are confident that we can defeat City, and our belief remains unaffected by the outcome on Saturday,” he stated. “The FA Cup was a more significant event than the Saturday game.”We still want to win, but we’ve proven that we can defeat City. Although we firmly believe it, we don’t want to gamble with players and lose them for extended periods of time.We must learn from the previous season that when a pattern of several players missing due to injuries develops, it has an impact on outcomes. In order to achieve our goals, players must be available.