Alan Shearer would be "amazed" if Joshua Zirkzee becomes Manchester United's first-choice striker.

United paid €42.5million (£36.5m) to sign Zirkzee from Bologna in the summer and he was brought to Old Trafford to ease the burden of scoring goals on Rasmus Hojlund's shoulders.

Zirkzee scored on the opening day of the Premier League campaign against Fulham but it became clear he wasn't a natural scorer and he waited another two months to find the net.

The Dutchman ended his wait for a goal when scoring twice in the recent 4-0 win over Everton, however, he has looked most effective when dropping into deeper positions and linking up play, leaving fans to question why he was signed when the team needed a prolific striker.

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Ruben Amorim could look to sign a striker in the summer, despite United splashing millions on Hojlund and Zirkzee, and Shearer thinks it's an issue that must be addressed.

"I’m not surprised to see them linked with buying a striker, they need a top class centre-forward. That's pretty clear for everyone to see and it doesn't take a genius to work it out," Shearer told Betfair.

"For Amorim, to get where he wants to go, he's going to need a top class centre-forward because that's one of the positions that Man United have struggled in, in recent years.

"They haven't scored enough goals and it's been a tad unfair on Rasmus Hojlund. I know they've signed Joshua Zirkzee as well, but they need a top class centre-forward so I'm not surprised at all to see them being linked with Viktor Gyokeres [who Amorim worked with at Sporting Lisbon].

"In Rasmus Hojlund's case, it was a tad unfair with his price tag and he wasn't ready to be the number one centre-forward and lead the line for a club like Manchester United.

"He was still improving, learning and he's had to play a lot more than he perhaps ought to have been. It would've been better for him to be in and out, gain the experience and learning curve.

"I still think there's a chance he could be a really good centre-forward but I just think the situation he was put in was a really difficult one and unfair on him. It remains to be seen what role Amorim will see Zirkzee having, but I'd be amazed if it was as the main centre-forward."

Shearer also discussed Amorim and added: "I think in his press conferences Amorim is actually sending subliminal messages to United fans to tell them that this is not a very good team and it's going to take time.

"He said before the game against Arsenal that they're going to have to suffer and there will be times where things aren't good. I admire his honesty and openness.

"But I also do think that he's probably got into the football club and onto the training ground and thought 'is this what I've got with all the money you've spent?' - although he'll never say that, I'm sure there'll be a part of him that thinks that.

"The Arsenal game was his first big test in terms of proper opposition. I mean you'd expect them to compete with Ipswich and they were fortunate to get the draw.

"You'd expect them to win at home in Europe and you'd expect them to beat Everton at home. They did alright in those three games but their big test was against Arsenal and Amorim set up really defensively and they frustrated Arsenal in the first-half, but as soon as Arsenal scored one goal, there was only one team that were going to win the game."