Manchester United rattles Napoli and Roma in the market
The double scored by Evan Ferguson against Celtic in the Europa League has not settled things at Roma: the Irishman has not convinced Gian Piero Gasperini, who has already asked the Giallorossi management to intervene in the market to sign a new striker. The Giallorossi team’s difficulties in the scoring phase are there for all to see, and Gasperini is desperate to put things right as early as January to avoid jeopardizing the chase for a European placement. Among the various profiles sounded out by the capital club there’s especially that of Joshua Zirkzee, an old acquaintance of our league.
The Dutch center forward did very well with Thiago Motta’s Bologna, then in July 2024 Manchester United shelled out more than 40 million euros to convince him to move to England. The club expected a lot from him but Zirkzee did not settle in and the Red Devils’general difficulties certainly did not help him express the qualities admired in Italy. The striker wants to revive himself in order to convince Ronald Koeman to bet on him for the upcoming World Cup and welcomes a return to our league to revive his career. Complicating matters, however, is Ruben Amorim: although he does not have great confidence in Zirkzee, he is concerned about the numerous injuries to his strikers and does not want to take any risks even in view of the African Cup of Nations, which will deprive Manchester United of several even important players.
Similar talk for Kobbie Mainoo, a very talented Red Devils midfielder who has long been in Napoli’s sights. So far the young star has played very little: just 183 minutes in the Premier League spread over 10 games, an average of not even 20 minutes per match. It went better in the EFL Cup, where he played 90 minutes at the end of August against Grimsby Town, but still it is obviously not enough to make him happy. Last season he enchanted everyone with great plays, then something changed and he ended up on the fringes of Ruben Amorim’s project. Napoli has been monitoring him for some time but there’s the same problem as Joshua Zirkzee: the Portuguese coach does not want to give up anyone in the winter soccer session to guard against the African Cup of Nations.
The situation is very complicated, Frederic Massara has been in Manchester to try to unblock the Zirkzee situation and it is likely that Giovanni Manna will do the same for Mainoo, however, at the moment there is not much optimism seeping in for the two market hypotheses. In fact, Roma is looking elsewhere to fix the goal-scoring problem.
The Giallorossi are considering the profile of Giacomo Raspadori, who is leaving Atletico Madrid after not even 6 months. The former Napoli man has failed to win the confidence of Cholo Simeone and is the fourth choice for the Colchoneros’ attack: a situation that clearly does not make him happy. Like Zirkzee, Raspadori believes a return to Italy could help him regain goals and confidence.
