Zirkzee requests summer transfer early! Manchester United reduces price by £15 million, compensating for World Cup exclusion pain.

According to Italian media reports, because they forcefully retained Zirkzee during the January winter transfer window, the very humane Manchester United intends to lower his transfer fee this summer to help him realize his wish to leave. United spent £36.5 million (€42.5 million) to bring him in from Bologna, and now are willing to sell for £20 million, including some clauses like secondary transfer shares.

The 24-year-old Zirkzee is certain to miss the Netherlands squad for the summer's USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup; he has scored only 5 Premier League goals in his two years at United. Since Carrick took charge, Zirkzee's longest appearance in a match was in the 1-2 defeat to Newcastle United where he was killed off, playing only 13 minutes. But that was already better than his previous three appearances, where he played only 3 minutes, 8 minutes, and 4 minutes respectively.

In United's last win over Aston Villa, Zirkzee did not get a single minute of playing time. Under such circumstances, if Ronald Koeman selects Zirkzee for the World Cup, it would surprise the entire football world. Zirkzee's legendary "stay and fight for a place" has ended in complete failure.

Having failed to regain his place in the team, Zirkzee now realizes that a summer transfer is in the best interest of all parties, and he has already requested to leave this summer ahead of time. In January this year, Serie A's Roma were the favorites to sign Zirkzee and had negotiated with United over a £35 million loan-with-obligation-to-buy deal.

Now, Roma still keep an eye on Zirkzee; moreover, Juventus are also closely monitoring, dissatisfied with the performance of the free-signing Canadian striker Jonathan David and wanting to find a better partner for Vlahovic.

Italian media reports state that Zirkzee's agent Kia Joorabchian has clearly indicated to other clubs that the player is very likely to transfer this summer. The Turin-based newspaper reports his fixed transfer fee is around £20 million.

The reason United is doing this may be due to the general lack of funds among Italian clubs; rather than expecting them to offer a high price, they hope the player performs well after transferring and earns more transfer fee shares when moving to other top clubs. In the transfers of Mason Greenwood, McTominay, and Antony, United did not charge excessively high fees but retained a larger proportion of secondary transfer shares.

Meanwhile, although Zirkzee was forced to stay at United twice during last summer and this winter window, he still displayed a good professional attitude, not complaining publicly and actively supporting teammates and cheering for the team during matches. Therefore, United is happy to do him a favor and help him find a suitable development path again.

Dutch legend Gullit has always believed that Zirkzee choosing United was a mistake from the start, as his style does not suit the Premier League. "I see Roma might want to sign Zirkzee, I hope he can leave United," Gullit said. "In my view, I always thought going to United was not the right decision for him. I think he should have stayed in Serie A; he played very well at Bologna."

Gullit added: "I think Zirkzee should go to a good team in Italy. That would suit him much better. Look at McTominay, since he left Old Trafford, his performance has been simply incredible. So brilliant, watching him play is fantastic. At United, he was more like the team's twelfth man than a key player. Look how well he is developing at Napoli now; being able to play every full match is really very important."