Report: Joshua Zirkzee is Kean’s replacement

By now, you know that Moise Kean has one foot on the road to Como. The stink cloud surrounding him as he slouches out the door threatens to overwhelm this entire Viola mercato and Fabio Paratici needs to dispel it quickly, both to replace Fiorentina’s best player and to get the fans back onboard. His solution, accordingtovariousreports, is Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee on loan with an option to buy. The ultra-reliable Niccolò Ceccarini has it as a €5 million initial loan fee with the option/obligation and percentage of salary still under discussion.

Zirkzee is somehow just 25 and surplus to requirements at Old Trafford, where he’s made 75 appearances since joining in 2024 for over €40 million, scoring just 9 goals and never gaining a regular starting place under 3 successive managers. He’s got plenty of Serie A experience, having spent a total of 3 years in Italy with Bologna and Parma, and he’s got 6 caps for the Netherlands. He is, at the very worst, a solid player up front with some outstanding characteristics and a few notable weaknesses.

The primary weakness, the one that’s defined his senior career, is an aversion to goals. Even in his breakout season with the Felsinei under Thiago Motta, he scored just 11 goals. His highest tally as a professional is 15 with Anderlecht, where he played alongside our old friend Christian Kouamé. Those are the only seasons he’s broken double digits, as his league goals since 2021-2022 number 15, 2, 11, 3, and 2. His xG and shooting numbers are consistently below average. Some of that is the ecosystems he’s been in—Ruben Amorim’s Man U cratered everyone’s stats—but some of it his characteristics as a player.

Where Zirkzee excels is in linking play. He’s excellent on the ball and has an incredibly quick mind, finding angles to play wingers getting in behind or holding up the play to connect with midfield runners. In spite of his size, he’s not physically overpowering; he wins with technique and intelligence. When he’s locked in, he can be the fulcrum of the attack, an enganche nominally stationed at center forward but constantly dropping deep to pick up the ball, connect with the midfield or even the defense, and encourage his fellow attackers to get in over the top.

I like watching Zirkzee. He was a ton of fun at Bologna. He probably can’t be the center of an attacking plan due to his goalscoring limitations. What he can do is enhance his teammates. His approach means he’s best suited to playing in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 with another central attacker playing off him and direct wingers looking to attack the channels. He’s a poor man’s Harry Kane in many ways, although he lacks the Englishman’s decisiveness in the final third.

Fabio Grosso’s Fiorentina doesn’t look like that at all. I can imagine Zirkzee linking up pretty well with one of Arthur Atta, Franco Mastantuono, or Albert Guðmundsson. All 3 of those players tend to drop towards the ball rather than running in behind. Maybe Atta and Cher Ndour can provide that off-ball drive but neither fits the mold of prolific wide forward. Even if Paratici can bring in the rumored explosive winger (e.g. Ernest Poku, Johan Bakayoko), the squad doesn’t look like a great fit for Zirkzee’s expertise.

It’s a harsh lesson in squadbuilding for a sporting director who ought to have learned it. Joshua Zirkzee is a good player but he’s not one that makes sense with every roster. He won’t replicate Kean’s 5-alarm threat in behind. Perhaps he, Grosso, and the rest of the Viola roster can make it work. If not, though, it’s less a reflection on Zirkzee’s raw ability (whatever that even means) and on more a reflection on a rushed, panicky process brought on by poor planning.

As some of you might know, biasa Fiorentina.