Joshua Zirkzee may have been lining up as a Toffee long before his £36.5 million move to Manchester United, but the Dutchman previously stated his rationale for rejecting Everton. Joshua Zirkzee confessed that seven years before signing for Manchester United for £36.5 million, he rejected Everton due to a lack of opportunity. The Dutchman signed with the Red Devils on Sunday (July 14), finally deciding to push himself in English football after a successful career in Germany, Belgium, and Italy.
The 23-year-old is no stranger to the demands of football in this country, having previously played for Everton’s Under-19s squad in a junior competition in Prague in 2017. Though the Toffees appeared to have sway over his potential signing due to then-manager Ronald Koeman’s Feyenoord connections from his time as a player and manager, the promising forward, who was 16 at the time, chose not to sign at Goodison Park due to concerns about breaking into the first team.
In an interview with Dutch news station HLN, he admitted: “I could have gone to Everton; they pressed hard, but breaking through in England is difficult,” reported the Mirror. While many players make such moves early in their careers, the Dutchman wisely chose to stick with the Dutch titans. It wasn’t long before he was on the move, as he signed a year later with Bayern Munich, where he won the continental Treble in the 2019/20 season, the club’s second such victory in its history.
After an outstanding debut season at Bologna, where he scored 12 goals in all competitions to secure the club’s surprising qualifying for the Champions League the following season, Zirkzee’s decision to play in English football has led him to United. Fans of the Toffees can now look forward to seeing him play at Goodison Park when the Red Devils visit in February.
