Owen Hargreaves warns Manchester United they won’t win trophies with £36m ‘filler’ player

Owen Hargreaves says that while he likes Joshua Zirkzee, he isn’t the answer to Manchester United’s goalscoring problems.

Zirkzee joined United from Bologna over the summer for around £36million and made an instant impact, scoring the winner against Fulham on his debut.

He made his first start for the club in the 3-0 loss against Liverpool on Sunday and was arguably the Red Devils’ best player in a rather dismal display.

The centre-forward came close to scoring twice and looks to be Erik ten Hag’s best hope up top in the absence of the injured Rasmus Hojlund.

But Hargreaves isn’t convinced the 23-year-old is a long-term solution and believes United must sign a world-class goalscorer if they are to catch up to their rivals.

‘I quite like him, he’s got something but he’s not a Haaland killer whose going to get you 40 goals,’ the former United star said of Zirkzee on Rio Ferdinand Presents.

‘In our team he would have been a good squad player, he would have been the third or fourth guy but if you want to win you need a guy at the top of the pitch whose ruthless.

‘I like him, I think he could be a really good player for United but the problem is they’ve got two who are really good players, Hojlund and Zirkzee, but look at what Haaland’s done.

‘That guy is a robot goalscorer. You need a guy whose a killer, like Ruud [Van Nistelrooy].’

Zirkzee scored 12 and made seven assists for Bologna last season and is one of a few young stars United are banking on blossoming into world-class in a few years.

Hargreaves is unconvinced however, adding: ‘I think Man United should only sign players they think can win them the Premier League and Champions League, otherwise keep the money.

[Leny] Yoro could be that guy. Young boy, got crazy high potential. But at the moment, United are signing a lot of guys who are like fillers.

‘The best players to come through right now have been [Alejandro] Garnacho, [Kobbie] Mainoo, academy boys, so the academy is producing players.’

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