Juventus Pursue Zirkzee as Kolo Muani Deal Intensifies
Joshua Zirkzee has given the green light. Now it is over to Juventus.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Manchester United forward has provided initial approval to a summer move to Turin, with Juventus pushing to secure a loan deal for the Dutch international. Talks with his agent, Kia Joorabchian, are described as intense, as the club look to reshape an attack that has become too predictable and, after injury, too thin.
Massara’s long courtship
This is not a sudden obsession. New football director Ricky Massara has admired Zirkzee for some time and tried to take him to Roma in the winter window. That move never materialised. The interest never cooled.
Zirkzee’s numbers at Bologna still echo around Serie A: 12 goals and seven assists in the 2023-24 campaign, a season that marked him out as one of the league’s most modern forwards. Tall, technical, and comfortable linking play between the lines, he looked built for Italian football.
England has been a different story. Since moving to the Premier League, he has struggled to nail down a starting role, with only 19 league starts from 68 appearances over the past two seasons. The talent is obvious; the rhythm of regular football has not been.
Juventus believe they can be the ones to unlock him again.
A forward for Spalletti’s system
Zirkzee’s profile fits neatly into Luciano Spalletti’s tactical blueprint. The coach wants a forward who can drop off, combine with midfielders, and still provide a penalty-box presence. A “modern, technically gifted forward,” as Gazzetta put it, rather than a pure poacher.
For Spalletti, the attraction is clear: Zirkzee can act as a reference point, but also as a creator. Someone who can knit together an attack that too often relied on moments rather than structure.
But Zirkzee is only half of the plan.
Kolo Muani the other pillar
While talks progress with United over a loan, Juventus are working in parallel on a major deal with Paris Saint-Germain. CEO Giovanni Carnevali is, according to Gazzetta, driving negotiations for a €40 million move for Randal Kolo Muani.
The idea is bold. Zirkzee’s touch and vision combined with Kolo Muani’s direct running and pace. One to orchestrate, one to stretch defences. On paper, it gives Spalletti a far more dynamic and unpredictable frontline than last season.
The urgency is real. An injury to young Italian striker Jeff Ekhator has stripped away depth and forced the club to accelerate their market plans. What might have been a gradual rebuild has become a race against the calendar.
Time pressure in Turin
Spalletti is now waiting for clarity from the board. He wants both deals done quickly, not as late-window bargains. The plan is to have the core of the squad in place early, to give new arrivals time to absorb his demands during pre-season.
Juventus do not have the luxury of easing into the campaign. Their Serie A season opens with a tricky away trip to newly-promoted Frosinone on August 23, a fixture that carries more risk than the name suggests for a side still searching for fluency.
If Zirkzee lands in Turin and Kolo Muani follows from Paris, Juventus will walk into that first game with a very different face in attack. The question now is not whether they want this revolution.
It is whether they can get it over the line in time.
