West Ham to be offered Man Utd's forgotten man in World Cup lifeline

Manchester United have opened the door to West Ham over a January move for Joshua Zirkzee, it has been claimed. The Dutch international, who only joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2024, has found himself on the fringes following Ruben Amorim's first summer transfer window.

United's addition of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko over the summer has seen Zirkzee fall down the pecking order, with Mason Mount also ahead of him in the queue for a starting spot. Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford have already been loaned out by Amorim, and it appears Zirkzee could be next forward to be handed an exit route.

As reported by Mirror Football last week, the former Bologna star is keen to move on. He hasn't started a single match this season and has clocked up just 23 minutes of playing time across United's last six league fixtures.

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Reports from Europe suggest that Zirkzee would prefer to remain in the Premier League, making West Ham a potentially attractive option. The 24-year-old, who was linked with Juventus over the summer, is keen on more game time to give himself the best shot at featuring in the World Cup, should the Netherlands qualify.

The Euro 2024 semi-finalists need four points from their remaining two qualifying matches against Lithuania and Poland to guarantee their World Cup berth. Zirkzee, who was part of the Euros squad and scored his first senior international goal in the UEFA Nations League in September 2024, has yet to feature in any of the World Cup qualifiers.

West Ham's need for attacking reinforcements speaks for itself. The Hammers find themselves languishing in 19th position in the Premier League table after nine fixtures, and new boss Nuno Espirito Santo is waiting to see how heavily he will be backed in his first transfer window at the helm.

The Hammers have managed to find the back of the net on just seven occasions in the league this campaign, with only Nottingham Forest putting up a worse record.

The East London outfit splashed out over £100m during the summer transfer window, though their sole new attacking additions were free transfer Callum Wilson and Scottish prospect Daniel Cummings.

Wilson has featured just once under Nuno's stewardship, coming off the bench in Friday's reverse at Leeds, whilst Cummings remains without a senior appearance and is seen as one for the future.

United manager Amorim recognised the limited game time afforded to certain squad members earlier this month, though fell short of providing assurances regarding January departures for either Zirzkee or Kobbie Mainoo.

"That is normal, and I also know that in our club, everything is a lot of noise, and you have to have news, and players are not playing," he said.

"They want to play. Like you said, there's a World Cup. There are agents that listen to the players talking all the time. So, I understand that but they are our players, and we need everyone to have a good season."