"He is really hungry" - Erik ten Hag confirms Manchester United star could feature against Manchester City

Erik ten Hag has strongly suggested that Joshua Zirkzee is likely to make his Manchester United debut in the upcoming Community Shield match against Manchester City. The Red Devils will lock horns with their Manchester rivals in the FA Community Shield at Wembley today (August 10) in the country’s football curtain-raiser for the 2024–25 season.

Erik ten Hag's men booked their spot as a contender for the 2024 FA Community Shield after defeating Pep Guardiola’s men 2-1 in the FA Cup final in May.

Meanwhile, Zirkzee, one of the two players that Manchester United have signed in this summer transfer window, is highly anticipated to make his debut in the 2024 FA Community Shield.

Joshua Zirkzee joined Manchester United from Bologna for a fee of €42.5 million in July and was given a long break to recover his run with the Netherlands in Euro 2024. Now that he is back in the team, United fans will be hoping to see him get some minutes against the Cityzens today.

Erik ten Hag has hinted at the likelihood of the Dutch forward getting some minutes against City. He said, via Mirror:

"Yeah I think he can [feature], he is really hungry to do this because he is looking forward and he is also very excited to be coming into the Premier League. To come to Manchester United and on his first occasion go to Wembley, of course that will highly motivate him, that's for sure.

"But he is also short in training, he had a break, he trained individually but he has now had a couple of days in the team training."

Erik ten Hag urges patience in Manchester United's recruitment strategy

Meanwhile, Erik ten Hag has called for patience with regards to the club’s transfer decision in the summer transfer window. Manchester United have been somewhat quiet in the 2024–25 summer transfer window, having only signed two players - Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.

Since then, they’ve been linked to other players like Manuel Ugarte, Sander Berge, and Bayern Munich’s defensive duo, Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt. However, when Erik ten Hag was asked about the possibility of making his third signing of the season, he said (via Manchester United website):

"When we have news, we will announce it," Ten Hag said. "You see the market is quite quiet still but we have done our business, we have done two deals. "It is about timings and it is about the market options and [ensuring] in the right moment we do the right things."

When quizzed about the speculation linking United with a central midfielder, he said:

"I don't go into details where we are now with recruitment and what we are working on. We know what we are doing and I think we are in a good position with the squad. For you, just wait, be patient and in the right moment, we will tell you."