How ex-Chelsea star could hold the key to Man Utd landing £34m landmark striker deal
The Red Devils are understood to be nearing a deal for a big name striker
The transfer market is a little like an old woollen jumper; pull one thread, and it tends to loosen another, and then another, and then another. All it takes is for a single player to move on and an entire process of continental unravelling may begin.
Take, for instance, the current situation surrounding Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee. The Dutchman is in high demand at present, and has been occupying prime real estate in the gossip columns for too many weeks to count at this stage. While less serious suitors have fallen by the wayside, chief among his admirers remain Manchester United and Italian giants AC Milan.
Indeed, for a long while, it looked as if the Serie A club could hold a notable advantage in the race to secure his signature. (That signature, by the way, is expected to cost somewhere in the region of £34 million.) But then somebody tugged at a loose clump of yarn and suddenly things don’t appear so concrete.
You see, according to iNews, Zirkzee had been keen to stay in Italy this summer, and as such, was very open to the prospect of joining Milan. But, in a cruel/foreseeable twist, his agent, Kia Joorabchian, is said to have scuppered any such plans through a combination of his ‘difficult’ working relationship with the seven-time champions of Europe and the fact that he is demanding as much as £12 million in commission. Because of course he is.
This has seemingly been enough to put Milan off a prospective swoop, and it is now understood that the club are looking at other targets. In particular, former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham has been offered to them by AS Roma, who are eager to offload his substantial salary from their wage bill. And so the threads fray.
Because if Milan do walk away from Zirkzee and instead opt for Abraham, that could very much open a door for United to land the 23-year-old. To that end, the i are already bold enough to suggest that the Red Devils are ‘closing in’ on an agreement - although no formal bid to trigger the forward’s release clause has been tabled at this stage.
Instead, contact has been made with the aforementioned Joorabchian, who has even been kind enough to reduce his chunk of commission in the event of his client ending up at Old Trafford. This, alongside Milan suddenly finding a viable alternative in the form of Abraham, has catapulted United to the front of the queue for Zirkzee.
There are still potential stumbling blocks to navigate - Abraham’s wages and a simmering glut of Premier League interest among them - but if Milan can wrap up a deal for the Englishman, then there will be, presumably, absolutely nothing standing in the way of the Red Devils and their efforts to finally acquire a striker capable of easing the burden on Rasmus Hojlund’s shoulders. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but the more pieces that fall into place, the more likely it feels that this could be on the cards.