It was the summer of 2022. That of the signings of Bremer and Kostic, the loans of Milik and Paredes and the arrivals of Pogba and Di Maria. After taking Vlahovic from Fiorentina the previous January, as well as Gatti and Zakaria (the latter rejected). Juve found themselves negotiating the sale of De Ligt with Bayern Munich: and there, in the animated discussion between the old management and Salihamidzic (market man for the Bavarian club), the name of Joshua Zirkzee also came up. The Dutchman had played a good season at Anderlecht (scoring 15 goals in 32 games) but in the previous season, at Parma, he hadn’t impressed much. For Juve, who were already starting to pay attention to costs, it would have been more of a gamble: at a time when they were looking for more certainties, given the need to replace an important player like Chiesa (dealing with injury).
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Bologna took Zirkzee on 30 August for 8 and a half million (Kostic cost 12 plus 3 bonuses) but giving Bayern Munich a purchase clause of 40 million or the right to match any other higher offer, in addition to 40% on the future capital gain . An operation with principles that would hardly have been absorbed in that period by the Juventus environment, which was clamoring for reinforcements to win the Scudetto again. The attacker’s name is now back in trend at Continassa: with a new transfer team to Juve but also a very different perception of the Dutchman, who had been taken by the Emilian club to play second striker to Arnautovic (in the 4-2- 3-1) and since last summer he has also found himself having to play center forward. Giuntoli imagines him in his original position: in support of Vlahiovic, for a new first-tier attack.
