Erik ten Hag ‘didn’t want’ to be a stone overweight at Man Utd – Man Utd

Erik ten Hag was furious with a summer recruit who turned out to be ‘overweight’ and with the fact that the Dutchman was against the signing in the first place.

United confirmed the sacking of Erik ten Hag last week after the club’s worst ever start to a Premier League season for the second consecutive year.

United were fourteenth in the Premier League at the time of the Dutchman’s dismissal and have since confirmed the appointment of Ruben Amorim from Sporting CP.

Amorim will join the club ahead of their clash with Ipswich, with current interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy taking charge of the club’s next two games against POAK and Leicester.

Although Ten Hag had more than enough time to turn his fortunes around at Old Trafford, it was reported that he felt let down by a summer signing he didn’t even want.

According to The Sun, United striker Joshua Zirkzee arrived at Old Trafford ‘overweight’ and failed to shift the excess weight ahead of the new season.

The report also states that its arrival from Bologna was at the initiative of Ineos’ new management team, as they believed it was good value for money despite Ten Hag’s reservations.

Zirkzee made a good start in England as he came off the bench on the opening day to score in United’s 1-0 win over Fulham.

Since then, the 23-year-old has failed to find the target in his 15 appearances since his debut, with many fans concerned about the striker’s performances.

Joshua Zirkzee-Getty

With reports that Zirkzee was overweight, he didn’t exactly help his cause on Sunday after playing in on goal, but he didn’t have the pace to evade Wesley Fofana.

Zirkzee never had the greatest reputation as a goalscorer in the early stages of his career, despite looking sharp in front of Bayern Munich’s goal.

The Dutch international scored 14 goals in 58 games over two seasons with Bologna before making the move to the Premier League.