Manchester United’s £36.5m summer signing Joshua Zirkzee was jeered off by the home fans after being substituted in the first half of their Premier League clash with Newcastle.
United had endured a miserable opening to the game and found themselves two goals down inside the opening half hour after headers from Alexander Isak and Joelinton.
Ruben Amorim decided he’d seen enough and opted to replace Zirkzee with Kobbie Mainoo with the best part of 15 minutes of the first half remaining.
As he began to jog off the pitch, a roar went up from the home fans who were clearly happy to see Zirkzee making way.
The fans’ reaction prompted co-commentator and former United player Gary Neville to express some sympathy for Zirkzee.
‘I actually feel sorry for him, I really do,’ Neville said.
Joshua Zirkzee was jeered off by his own fans in the first half against Newcastle
Zirkzee grabbed his coat and headed down the tunnel before later returning to the bench
Gary Neville admitted he felt sorry for Zirkzee after he was jeered off by his own fans
‘I know that he’s earning a lot of money here but there is a human being in there that’s basically being cheered off by his own fans and that is brutal.
‘I’ve not seen that too many times at Old Trafford in the 43 years that I’ve been coming here.’
Having got to the bench, Zirkzee picked up his coat and quickly walked up the touchline before heading down the tunnel.
Neville continued: ‘He’s had enough and I actually don’t blame him. (It’s) a massive embarrassment, I hope some of the fans down there give him a little something. He hasn’t played well let’s be clear, they’ve all been absolutely awful.’
A few minutes later, Zirkzee returned to the bench clutching a water bottle as he rejoined United’s substitutes for the evening.
Neville would go on to claim that United were the ‘worst pound-for-pound team in the country’ as he watched his old club be thoroughly outplayed by Newcastle on their own turf.
Before a ball had even been kicked, Neville had expressed his concerns with United’s summer signings, including Zirkzee, and how they had struggled to settle in at Old Trafford.
‘I am shocked at how poor those players have been in the early months at this club,’ he said prior to kick-off.
Neville went on to claim United are the ‘worst pound-for-pound team in the country’
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‘And it’s happened again. I’ve said this before that this club has been a bit of a graveyard for players with decent reputations. But when they signed those players like Ugarte, De Ligt, Yoro, Zirkzee, I didn’t hear anybody say “they’ve signed a load of bums”.
‘They’ve signed some half-decent players there that you thought would improve the squad. The problem is when you see them play out here in a red shirt, they look like actually Manchester United are worse than they were before.
‘That’s the bizarre thing, that’s the odd thing that I’m going to keep continuing to work out because these players haven’t all of a sudden become bad players overnight when they come to Manchester United. But that’s what seems to be the case, and it’s happening again before our eyes.’
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