When it rains it really pours for Manchester United, with Joshua Zirkzee the latest to fall prey to injury.
The Dutchman went down as if shot during the second half of action in Manchester United’s Premier League trip to St James’ Park.
The former Serie A star was left clutching his thigh after having dropped as if ‘shot’ (to quote Pat Nevin on BBC Sport).
Alejandro Garnacho had levelled proceedings (thanks to Diogo Dalot’s well-timed pass) ahead of the half-time break after Sandro Tonali’s opener, in a game in which Zirkzee had shown signs of quality.
Ruben Amorim reacts to Joshua Zirkzee injury
You could forgive Ruben Amorim for wondering what exactly he’s done to offend the footballing gods after this latest unfortunate setback for the Red Devils.
Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst spotted the United head coach clutching his head as Zirkzee dropped to the turf.
Amorim put his hands on his head. Will be a Lazarus-like comeback if Zirkzee plays against Lyon after he was clutching his hamstring then. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) April 13, 2025
Perhaps an indication of the potential severity of the injury, but at the very least certainly an expression of frustration at the club’s latest stroke of poor fortune.
Manchester United’s injury list grows
With the 23-year-old’s addition, our injury room swells to a seven-man list (via Premier Injuries), including:
- Lisandro Martinez
- Amad Diallo
- Ayden Heaven
- Toby Collyer
- Matthijs de Ligt
- Jonny Evans
The former Bayern Munich centre-back should be the next returnee, depending on how a further diagnosis of Joshua Zirkzee’s injury goes after our encounter with Newcastle.
Regardless, it’s hardly a welcome update to see the former Bologna man limp off the pitch a mere handful of days before our second leg clash with Lyon in the Europa League.
Over to Rasmus Hojlund
In fairness to our Danish centre-forward, Rasmus Hojlund has generally found himself favoured by Amorim in our European contests.
It wasn’t too far back either that the 22-year-old proved decisive in a knockout tie, with two assists provided in our 4-1 mauling of Real Sociedad back in March.
We could very much use such quality productivity again with the tie currently hanging in the balance (2-2 on aggregate).
