Erik ten Hag was 'unhappy' with £36.5m transfer as damning Manchester United claim made

Erik ten Hag was reportedly not in favour of signing Joshua Zirkzee, who left his then-new manager fuming when he arrived at Manchester United 'overweight'. The 23-year-old forward, who caught the eye for Bologna in Serie A last season, was one of the last signings of the Dutchman's tenure.

However, the decision to target Zirkzee and sign him for £36.5million was driven by the club's new hierarchy and not Ten Hag. Upon his arrival at Carrington, the Netherlands international was reportedly a stone overweight, and has struggled to lose the excess weight.

According to reports from The Sun, Ten Hag was upset as Zirkzee was not his preferred signing and he also arrived in poor physical condition. Despite scoring the winning goal on his debut, against Fulham, the forward has failed to find the net since - with United generally struggling in attacking quarters this season.

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Zirkzee has made 15 appearances across all competitions - mostly from the substitutes bench - and hasn't scored since his debut. His last league start was against Tottenham at the end of September.

Rasmus Hojlund's return to the squad has not sparked a turnaround and, with Zirkzee failing to seize his moments on the field, Ruben Amorim's imminent arrival comes at a time when United's forward line is under intense scrutiny.

The team's struggles to find the net has contributed to their worst-ever start in the Premier League era, leaving them languishing in the bottom half of the table after accumulating a meagre nine goals in ten matches, reports The Mirror - on the back of above claims from The Sun.

Before leaving Old Trafford earlier this month, Ten Hag openly acknowledged the issue. The 54-year-old said: "Not scoring goals, not scoring goals enough. That's the problem, the key area.

"We have to score more goals as a team." he added. "I think we have players across the team who have the ability to score. That's clear. You see all the opportunities we are creating, we are not scoring enough."

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