Ruben Amorim plan for Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee emerges ahead of Man United arrival

It remains to be seen what the futures of Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee hold ahead of Ruben Amorim's arrival at Manchester United next week.

While Hojlund is ahead of Zirkzee in the pecking order, there has been some questions over whether the latter will play under the new manager. Zirkzee signed from Bologna for £36 million during the summer transfer window but is yet to hit the ground running after scoring just one goal in 14 appearances.

Just half of those appearances have been from the start after being replaced in the starting line-up by Hojlund who was previously injured. Now the Independent's Miguel Delaney claims that both Zirkzee and Hojlund were part of negotiations during talks for Amorim to become the new United boss.

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The Portuguese boss also suggested that Viktor Gyokeres could leave next summer amid links to the Premier League. "If I start talking about this Gyokeres situation, I’ll get in trouble. This is my city; this is my country, so I’ll respect it. Viktor has to stay until the end of the season, and then his life will probably be somewhere else," Amorim said on Tuesday after Sporting CP beat Manchester City in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Delaney wrote in his Reading the Games newsletter: "He’s probably the hottest target in Europe right now, with everyone looking. That's the impact of this form, as well as the greater focus on Amorim himself. That’s all the more pronounced since there is such a premium on young goal scorers.

"United know that all too well. It perhaps says something about the development of modern strikers, given Gyokeres was someone who had been passed over and almost dismissed for some time. He revelled under Amorim, and it has already been discussed at Old Trafford how the Portuguese can perhaps have a similar effect on Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee. That topic did come up in negotiations."

Meanwhile, Ian Wright has his own doubts over whether Zirkzee will get any game time with Amorim in charge. "Do you know something? When I look at the strikers at Manchester United, I look at [Rasmus] Hojlund and Zirkzee," Wright explained, "going forward, as a United player to take the club to the level they need to be – top-four, Champions League, title challengers – I can't see in any formation Zirkzee making it from what I've seen so far," he told the Wrighty's House podcast.

"I can see it with Hojlund; he looks like a future player with better players around him. He gives me the impression that if he gets in and around the box and he gets chances, he can go hot. I don't see the same with Zirkzee. I look at him and his movement, I don't see anything in his game that makes me think, 'Okay, there he is, I see what he can do'. I see that in Hojlund and some of the others. I can see them easily levelling up, but I feel for Zirkzee.

"United still need a striker. Whether they turn Marcus [Rashford] into that or they get a top striker in, they need one, to go alongside Hojlund and maybe for Hojlund to be the back-up. I'm trying to think of Ruben Amorim coming in and who he's going to play.

"Zirkzee will need to go through some massive transformation to play in the team ahead of other players. He's definitely not a natural goalscorer. I'm still waiting to see it from him."