Juventus have been told to “start the negotiations” with Manchester United over the possibility of signing one player from Erik ten Hag’s squad in the January window.
That is according to former Juventus player Paolo Di Canio, who has urged his former club to sign a Manchester United star who is the “perfect profile” for them.
Erik ten Hag is under immense pressure at Old Trafford after a poor start to the Premier League season, despite United signing several players in the summer.
United are 14th in the Premier League table after their opening seven league matches and played out a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa ahead of the October break.
The Red Devils will return to action on Saturday after the end of the international break, with United hosting Brentford at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Ten Hag, who inked a new deal in the summer, has faced mounting speculation over his future at United amid a poor run of form and results from his lacklustre side.
Di Canio wants Juventus to sign Man Utd star
Erik ten Hag saw the arrivals of Netherlands striker Joshua Zirkzee from Serie A outfit Bologna and French defender Leny Yoro from Ligue 1 side Lille in July.
The 54-year-old Dutchman was also reunited with two more former Ajax players after the signings of Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui in August.
Following the arrivals of Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich, Manchester United completed their deadline-day signing of Manuel Ugarte.
Joshua Zirkzee made an instant impact on his United debut after he came off the bench and scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Fulham at Old Trafford.
However, the 23-year-old Dutch forward has only scored once in 10 matches across all competitions and has struggled to make more of an impact in the final third.
Paolo Di Canio is keen for Juventus to take Zirkzee out on loan in January after claiming that he is a “bit too slow” for the Premier League.
“It’s difficult to find an opportunity in January, they don’t give you good strikers,” he told Italian newspaper Tuttosport, as per CalcioMercato.
“However, I would borrow Zirkzee from Manchester United. They’ve been making crazy choices there for a few years and nothing works, not even Zirkzee.
“He’s a bit too slow for the Premier League, then maybe he’ll prove me wrong with goals and great performances, but there they attack you straight away and whistle 30 per cent fewer fouls, in Italy, we saw what impact the player had at Bologna.
“In the end, in the confusion at United, they could even loan him out: they already have [Rasmus] Hojlund, then there’s [Marcus] Rashford who’s playing in that position.”
Di Canio on ‘perfect’ Zirkzee
Di Canio admitted that Zirkzee isn’t a “devastating scorer,” but pointed out that he makes other players “play well” and would be the ideal fit for Juventus.
“He’d be the perfect profile, also because it would allow [Juventus manager] Thiago Motta to have a striker with different characteristics to [Dusan] Vlahovic,” he continued.
“But I’d start the negotiations now: a loan with maybe the possibility of redeeming him. Zirkzee isn’t a devastating scorer, he’s not he’s a 25-goal player, but he makes the others play well.
“It can’t exist that Juve is without an alternative to the centre-forward. [Arkadiusz] Milik got injured in June, but then there was time to intervene.
“Juve had more strikers last year than the Champions League didn’t: you have to have solutions to make up for it.”
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