Premier League trial, £83m link up - Inside Joshua Zirkzee experiment before Man United transfer

Joshua Zirkzee became the latest big-money move to the Premier League when Manchester United lured him away from Serie A side Bologna for €42.5million (£35.8m).

After a historic campaign in the Northern Italian city, where Thiago Motta led I Rossoblù to European Qualification for the first time in 60 years, the 23-year-old Holland international opted to test his credentials in the English top-flight.

The Schiedam-born forward’s path to Old Trafford came via VV Hekelingen, Spartaan ‘20, Ado Den Haag and Bayern Munich, as well as loan stints at Parma and Anderlecht. However, it could’ve been a different story and he might’ve been pushing for a place in the starting XI of a Premier League club a mere seven years ago.

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Zirkzee’s time at Feyenoord was coming to a close as the towering forward with distinctive curly-hair courted attention from around Europe and England. Arsenal were favourites to bring the striker over from Rotterdam, some 78 kilometres south of Amsterdam, for London.

Among the clubs vying for his signature were Everton. The Toffees have become renowned for their academy, which became their home - along with the first-team following the move from Bellefield - in 2007.

The club boast success stories such as Wayne Rooney but they have also nurtured some of the best talents in England and Europe, while their Premier League performance has been far from impressive, their academy recruitment and development made them one of the most admired.

In 2017, Everton set out to sign Zirkzee after their Holland scout was placed on alert that the highly-rated youngster could leave Feyenoord.