Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed he has the option of giving Joshua Zirkzee his debut in Saturday’s Community Shield match against Manchester City.
The Dutch striker arrived in the summer transfer window for £35.8million but only started training with his new teammates in the last week following Euro 2024.
United are, however, in need of Zirkzee at Wembley given Rasmus Hojlund’s absence with a hamstring injury.
Ten Hag has suggested that he will hand Zirkzee a runout although it remains to be seen if that is as a starter or off the bench.
“Yeah I think he can [feature],” Ten Hag told MUTV.
“He is really hungry to do this because he is looking forward and he is also very excited to be coming into the Premier League.
“To come to Manchester United and on his first occasion go to Wembley, of course that will highly motivate him, that's for sure.
“But he is also short in training, he had a break, he trained individually but he has now had a couple of days in the team training.”
Several Man Utd players only recently began their pre-season routines due to summer international tournaments and Ten Hag has provided an update on how they will be assessed.
“That is [on an] individual basis and every [player] has a different background,” he said.
“We put them all on off-season programmes but they all have different starts as well in pre-season and in the weeks we were in the USA.
“So from individual to individual we will assess them and make a decision whether they start, come from the bench or they don't play.”
