Joshua Zirkzee loan discussions between Manchester United and Fiorentina are moving fast, according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano. The Italian club have tabled a formal bid worth €5 million (£4.2 million) to take the 25-year-old Dutchman on loan, with a future buy clause for a permanent fee included in the structure.
Fiorentina moved quickly after Moise Kean looked set to leave for Como, and advanced talks with the player’s representatives are now underway. Zirkzee has managed just 127 minutes across 10 appearances under Michael Carrick this season and sat completely unused during United’s recent Premier League opener against Hull City. He previously spent two seasons at Bologna before his £36.5 million switch to Old Trafford in 2024 and reportedly favours a return to Italian football over any other option, having previously drawn interest from Aston Villa.
Why this Joshua Zirkzee loan actually makes sense for United
Bluntly? This deal needs to go through. Keeping Zirkzee at Old Trafford serves nobody. His 2025/26 league numbers are grim with 24 appearances, five starts, 624 minutes, two goals, one assist. An 8% shot conversion rate. Seven shots on target across an entire Premier League campaign. Those figures don’t just reflect poor form; they reflect a player who has been structurally buried.
Erik ten Hag signed him in 2024 as a deep-dropping link forward, a profile that suited Ten Hag’s system. Then the manager left. Rúben Amorim arrived with a wing-back setup that had zero room for Zirkzee’s skill set, and a serious hamstring injury in April 2025 killed whatever momentum he had left. Carrick then signed three forwards in the summer rebuild. Zirkzee is now fifth in the pecking order, at best.
What the Joshua Zirkzee loan structure actually offers INEOS
Fiorentina’s bid, negotiated under sporting director Fabio Paratici, gets €5 million upfront and clears Zirkzee’s wages off the books. Yes, the permanent clause is undisclosed, meaning there’s no guaranteed full recoupment of that £36.5 million outlay. Critics will say that’s a failure. They’re wrong.
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An unhappy striker collecting splinters on the bench under Carrick loses value by the week. His confidence in English football is shot. Serie A, where he won the Under-23 Player of the Season award during his Bologna spell, is the only environment where he can rebuild that value and land a permanent exit on reasonable terms. Letting this drag on isn’t a strategy. It’s negligence.
