One goal and an assist on his first start for the Netherlands only to be dropped for the next game, a marquee one vs Germany is the situation Joshua Zirkzee is in.
The striker created history on his debut start for the national team, powering them to a 5-2 victory over Bosnia Herzegovina.
In a game where Manchester United players had a mixed bag, as Matthijs de Ligt struggled, Joshua Zirkzee was at his irresistible best.
He showed the way as to how his ideal role in a functional team looked like and fans might have been expecting him to do the same against higher-quality opposition in Germany.
Not on manager Ronald Koeman’s watch, who will rest Zirkzee against the Germans with a player who, coincidentally, could be his teammate at Old Trafford next season.
Brian Brobbey steps up
Brian Brobbey hasn’t scored for the Netherlands yet so when Koeman declared that he would come in for Zirkzee vs Germany, eyebrows were raised.
Brobbey has the same Dutch connection as many of the current United players, having worked with Erik ten Hag previously.
He has also been linked to Man United in recent years and at 22, could feel the time next summer is ideal to make a move.
Koeman expanded upon his selection, saying that Brobbey can ‘do even better than Joshua’ in one particular department.
He said: “A position is not determined in one international match. I was happy with Joshua’s game, but I have every confidence that Brian will also show those qualities in his match.
“I expect that we will certainly get spaces in the transition and I think Brian can do that even better than Joshua. Not that Joshua is not fast, because as a striker he is quite complete.”
Would Brobbey make sense at Man Utd?
Brobbey was linked previously to United but their signing of Rasmus Hojlund put a stop to that particular chase for a while.
It is likely that the transfer of Joshua Zirkzee won’t affect that much since those two are completely different players.
Next year, Brobbey will be 23, so the same age as Zirkzee is now. Therefore, if he arrives, United would have a settled contingent of three young strikers with world-class potential, all with different playing styles.
Of course, a lot of it depends upon Brobbey’s performances this season, and he hasn’t started off at the best note, playing just over 200 minutes in six games and scoring once.
He was a remarkable goalscoring prospect in youth circles which made RB Leipzig sit up and take notice but that move didn’t work out, leading to an Ajax return.
Then again, that is a tale similar to Zirkzee’s, who left the Netherlands for Germany, at Bayern Munich, where it didn’t work out and he rebuilt his career to eventually earn a move back to big time with Man United.
Perhaps Brobbey could do the same next season.
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