Why Joshua Zirkzee has not played for Manchester United yet

Joshua Zirkzee is set to start on the bench again for Manchester United against Fulham.

Striker Zirkzee, 23, joined United last month from Bologna in a £36.5million deal but he did not start team training until his teammates returned from the pre-season tour last Wednesday. The Netherlands international only played four minutes at the European Championship and holidayed in Los Angeles, where United were based during their pre-season tour.

Despite Zirkzee's proximity to United's touring party, he was instructed to report at the club's Carrington training complex on July 29 and primarily worked under former coach Steve McClaren until his new teammates returned.

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Zirkzee was an unused substitute in the Community Shield draw with Manchester City last week even though he is United's only senior striker. Rasmus Hojlund is out until September with a hamstring strain.

"I think he is close, so that is one of the complications," Ten Hag explained. "We don’t have a pre-season with him so we need games to bring him.

"If you see his background, in the last months he had an injury with Bologna. In the end, he made the selection for the Netherlands, so that helped him out of our first few weeks of pre-season.

"So no games - that is his problem in this moment. But now it is his third week in training, you see him stepping up, his fitness levels are improving and he needs more minutes and we can’t do it in a friendly, it has to go into the league.

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