Manchester United might have found the £46m striker they need to support Rasmus Hojlund

Tasked with becoming Manchester United's chief striker at the age of just 20, it would have been easy for Rasmus Hojlund to cower under the weight of expectation.

Signed for an initial fee of £64million last August, Hojlund was under pressure to deliver the goods. Despite having to wait until Boxing Day to score his first Premier League goal, he ended his first season at Old Trafford with a respectable tally of 16 goals to his name.

It has given the Dane a platform to build on ahead of this forthcoming season. He will both be hoping and be expected to exceed his 2023/24 tally.

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But despite United struggling to get consistent numbers out of their attackers last season, it is still too early to load more pressure on Hojlund's shoulders. He is only 21 and that is still a very young age to be responsible for leading United's attack.

It is no secret that Erik ten Hag wants to add a new centre-forward to his squad this summer to provide both support and competition for Hojlund. Anthony Martial's brittleness meant the former did not have anyone he could lean on for support last season.

United, as is so often the case, have been linked with a wealth of strikers so far this summer. Some links have been realistic and others have been so wide of the mark it is untrue.

But ongoing reports linking Bologna's Joshua Zirkzee with Old Trafford are ones that carry weight. The 23-year-old has a release clause of around £34million that has become active at the start of this month - although agent Kia Joorabchain is reportedly demanding a £12m fee - and Bologna's technical director Giovanni Sartori has said the likelihood of him leaving is as high as '99.9 per cent'.

When doing initial research on any striker, the first thing that everyone looks for is their respective record in front of goal. Zirkzee's, at first glance, is not particularly impressive, reading 12 goals in 37 matches for Bologna in 2023/24. The season prior, he scored just twice in 21 appearances.

However, Zirkzee's game is about much more than just goals. Unlike Hojlund, he is not a natural predator inside the box that relies on crosses and creativity from his teammates. Their respective profiles are incredibly different.

Zirkzee is an all-action striker, who will drop deep to pick up possession and link play. That ability instigates attacks and enables his teammates to drive forward.

Capable of dropping deep and picking up possession in between the lines, it demonstrates he has excellent awareness of what is going on around him. Furthermore, his ability to link the play by dropping deep highlights how useful he is in possession.

In the 2023/24 Serie A campaign, Zirkzee completed 644 open-play passes, boasted a 78 per cent passing accuracy, created 42 chances and successfully completed 103 ball recoveries. Each of those respective statistics show that his profile is entirely different to that of Hojlund's. The Dutchman would give United an extra dimension.

Ten Hag is keen to mould United into a possession-based team which dictates the ball and takes the game to the opposition. In Zirkzee, United's chances of doing so from the front would increase.

The caveat, however, is that Ten Hag operates with a formation that features one centre-forward, and Hojlund is unlikely to be dislodged from the top of the pecking order - and rightly so. That, of course, creates a headache about where Zirkzee would fit in and how big a role he could play.

But the exact same could be said for any striker United turn to this summer. They need a replacement for Martial, but they need someone who can step up and support Hojlund.

Having a player of Zirkzee's profile, however, would give the Reds a completely different option to call upon. He can operate as a No.10 as well as a No.9, meaning he could play on Hojlund's shoulder if Ten Hag was ever without Bruno Fernandes or decided to deploy the latter a little bit deeper at times.

Overall, Zirkzee is a physical, fast and intelligent forward, who brings a varied skillset to the table. His 2023/24 Serie A heat map demonstrates that he will drop into pockets to pick up the ball and then advance the play.

As far as his goalscoring record is concerned, there is no denying it could be better. However, his game is not just about putting the ball in the net. Of course, though, that is the main responsibility of any striker.

But if it is an extra element of movement that Ten Hag wants to add to his forward line, Zirkzee could be just the ticket, even if the total fee with an agent payment turns out to be closer to £46m. He wasn't compared to Ronaldinho by Thiago Motta for nothing.