Joshua Zirkzee makes feelings clear on Man Utd role amid new striker search

Joshua Zirkzee has vowed to fight for his place and prove his worth for Manchester United – despite their search for a new striker.

Zirkzee endured a difficult debut season at United, following his £36.5million move from Bologna, scoring just seven goals from 49 appearances. United are pushing to sign a new striker, with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins their top target, and have already signed two forwards this summer in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.

But Holland forward Zirkzee said he welcomes the competition from new arrivals and said it can help bring out the best in him and his fellow attackers.

“I’m very confident, everyone’s very confident,” said Zirkzee. “We’ve got competition, so whichever position the coach needs me is the position I’ll play – if that’s as a No.10 or a striker, it’s no different.

“The coach knows me well and knows exactly what to do and I’ve got 100 percent trust in the coach so I’m not worried about that.

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“It’s part of being at this club [competition]. If another striker were to come, I guess it’s only good competition, so I’m not really worried.

“They [Cunha and Mbeumo ] are two great players. We’ve seen that in training and we’ve seen that last season as well. We’re for the team and that’s what we’re all about. We just want the team to be good.

“Everything is for the team, there’s no selfishness here, that’s not my mantra. If it were to help the team, then great. I’m not here to decide what’s fair and unfair, I just know that me and Rasmus [Hojlund] can do better and have to do better.

“The manager wants goals, so that’s what I have to work on. That’s what it all comes down to. In the end, if you’re up top, you’re supposed to score goals. I’m not going to take that fact away.”

Zirkzee’s lowest point last season came when he was booed by his own fans at Old Trafford in January when he was subbed after 33 minutes with United trailing 2-0 to Newcastle.

He headed straight down the tunnel, visibly upset, but returned to the bench, and revealed how the support of his team-mates helped him through the ordeal.

“The guys are always there for me,” said Zirkzee. “Bruno [Fernandes], of course, is the captain. We’ve got a great group and we’re all there for each other, so every individual wants the best for all of us. In that case, I can lean on a lot of guys in the team.”

Zirkzee missed United’s US tour-opening 2-1 win over West Ham because of injury and said: “It’s a small injury, not a serious problem.

“It’s pre-season. It’s not like last season, when I pushed myself to be there for the Europa League final. Now I just want to be there for the start of the season.”

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