Thijs Dallinga has revealed what Joshua Zirkzee told his former club teammates after the Manchester United striker linked up with the Bologna players in October.
Joshua Zirkzee left Bologna at the end of the last Serie A season and completed a move to Manchester United in July in a deal worth £36.54m.
The 23-year-old Dutch forward had a dream start to life at Old Trafford after he climbed off the bench and scored the winner against Fulham in August.
Following on from the 1-0 Premier League win against Fulham at Old Trafford, Zirkzee has faced mounting criticism over his lack of goalscoring output.
The former Bologna striker has scored only once in his last 18 matches across all competitions for United, with Zirkzee picking up two assists for the Red Devils.
Zirkzee has only managed four starts in 12 Premier League appearances and the Dutch striker faces an uphill battle to turn the tide back in his favour.
Dallinga talks Man Utd star Zirkzee
Thijs Dallinga arrived at Bologna from Ligue 1 outfit Toulouse in July after Joshua Zirkzee signed for Manchester United in the summer.
Zirkzee was reunited with his former teammates in October after Bologna travelled to Liverpool for their Champions League match at Anfield.
The United star’s former side fell to a 2-0 defeat to the Reds, with Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah both netting for Liverpool in the contest.
Zirkzee, who has been linked with Juventus, played against Liverpool himself at United and watched the Reds secure a 3-0 win at Old Trafford in September.
Dallinga said that Zirkzee “didn’t talk much about Bologna” with his ex-teammates and “spoke mainly” about Liverpool ahead of the Champions League match.
“Everyone wanted to talk to him, so it got late, and we didn’t have much time,” he told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
“We didn’t talk much about Bologna. He spoke mainly about Liverpool, which he had already faced, saying it would be a challenging game.”
Ruben Amorim’s early warning to Zirkzee
Zirkzee came off the bench in the second half for Ruben Amorim’s first match in charge of United against Ipswich Town on Sunday at Portman Road.
Ruben Amorim preferred to start Marcus Rashford down the middle ahead of Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund and the United star opened the scoring in only two minutes.
However, Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Marcus Rashford’s opener before half-time and United were unable to restore their lead in the second half.
Following the 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town, Amorim warned Netherlands international Zirkzee that he must be in the box for United’s attacks.
“I think that [decision-making] is a concern, you don’t need to coach them at this level,” he told Sky Sports.
“You have to keep the ball and know the momentum to put the ball in front. Sometimes you feel that you can’t keep the ball and you [have to] put the ball in front.
“Then you have like we are [at] the end of the game; we were around the box with two strikers. Josh [Zirkzee] has to understand that he has to go to the box to have the crosses.
“So, we are doing some things that were not at the right moment, so that is something we have to address.
“Sometimes people talk about the 3-4-3, [but] that is not the concern, the system is the system but the understanding of the game is what we have to improve a lot in this area.”
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