Joshua Zirkzee shows his true colours after U-turning on transfer stance to join Man Utd

Joshua Zirkzee turned down Everton before joining Manchester United, only feeling that now is the right time to take on the Premier League challenge.

The 23-year-old striker sealed a £36.5 million transfer to the Red Devils as United ramped up their summer transfer dealings. He is expected to join up with his new Old Trafford team-mates after returning from a post-Euro 2024 holiday following his exploits with the Netherlands in Germany.

Zirkzee, who has gained experience in Germany, Belgium, and Italy, had previously sampled life at a Premier League club with Everton's Under-19s back in 2017, reports the Mirror.

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While at Feyenoord's youth setup, Zirkzee was highly sought after, drawing interest from clubs including Arsenal, and even appeared for Everton in a youth tournament in Prague, suggesting a move to the Toffees was on the cards.

Ronald Koeman, Everton's manager at the time and with strong ties to Feyenoord as a former player and manager, seemed set to land the promising Zirkzee.

However, despite the advanced stages of negotiation, Zirkzee, then only 16, opted against the move, citing the difficulty of making it in English football as a youngster. Reflecting on that decision, he told HLN: "I could have gone to Everton, they pressed hard, but breaking through in England, that's complex".

Zirkzee chose to continue his footballing education in his native Netherlands before securing a transfer to Bayern Munich a year later, where he won the continental Treble in the 2019/20 season before leaving for Bologna on a