Roma keen to offer Joshua Zirkzee an escape from Man United

Roma are second in Serie A, level on points with the leaders Napoli after six games, but they have scored only seven goals and their Ukrainian No9 Artem Dovbyk has scored just once.

Zirkzee, who represented the Dutch at Euro 2024, is in danger of being overlooked for a potential place at next summer’s World Cup unless he gains regular first-team football.

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman called up AZ Alkmaar’s 22-year-old forward Mexx Meerdink for this month’s international break and talked up the Chelsea-bound Strasbourg forward Emanuel Emegha, who is also 22.

On Zirkzee and Sunderland’s Brian Bobbey, who was also left out of the squad, Koeman said: “I don’t think they’re playing at all and have injuries. Or they’ve transferred. If they eventually play more, they’ll remain options. But we’re also looking beyond that.”

Wout Weghorst (33) and 31-year-old Memphis Depay started the 4-0 wins over Malta and Finland respectively this month while Donyell Malen, Justin Kluivert and Cody Gakpo also featured up front.

United, meanwhile, have said that they are “optimistic” they will find a breakthrough in negotiations with Freightliner, the company that owns a chunk of the land behind Old Trafford that the club hope to acquire to build their new stadium.

Freightliner is demanding £400million for the plot of land, but insiders say that this is just a starting point for negotiations.

A club representative told supporters at a recent United fans’ forum: “While United owns a significant portion of land around Old Trafford, it is not all in a single, continuous block. To accommodate the scale of the proposed new stadium – including a canopy – and to avoid disruption to the existing stadium during construction, we are working to secure additional land.

“We’ve been engaged in constructive discussions with neighbouring landholders and are optimistic about reaching mutually agreeable terms in the coming months.”

United recently launched a fans’ survey to gauge their feelings on what their new 100,000-stadium should include if it is built.

In March, the architects Foster + Partners came up with a potential design, which involves a huge canopy draped over the stadium. If United were to go ahead with that plan, they would need to obtain the land owned by Freightliner.

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