Joshua Zirkzee Shines with Stunning Pre-Season Goal for Manchester United

Joshua Zirkzee walked off the pitch in Trondheim with a pre-season goal already being talked about in superlatives. “The best pre-season goal ever,” some in the British press called it. Hyperbole is part of the game in July, but this one had substance behind the noise.

Manchester United, under Michael Carrick, dismantled Rosenborg 5-0 in a friendly on Friday. The scoreline was routine. Zirkzee’s second goal was anything but.

He took the ball with a casual arrogance, rolled his marker out of the picture, then toyed with the goalkeeper before passing the finish into the net with the calm of a player in training, not one under scrutiny. One feint, then another. Defender gone. Goalkeeper gone. Net found. It was a solo effort that made the rest of the night feel like a backdrop.

A striker who doesn’t stay still

What really turned heads, though, wasn’t just the finish. It was where he kept turning up.

Zirkzee started as the central striker, but he refused to be pinned there. Time and again he dropped off the front line, drifting into pockets in midfield, linking play as if he were a shadow striker rather than a classic No. 9. The movement wasn’t decorative. It changed the rhythm of United’s attack.

“The Dutchman started up front, but regularly dropped into deeper positions, where he feels most comfortable,” Steven Railston wrote in the Manchester Evening News. “He combined well with his team-mates and provided the assist for Lacey’s opening goal, after which he also scored a wonderful goal himself.”

That assist for Lacey set the tone. Zirkzee stepped off the shoulder, received, turned, and slid the ball into space at exactly the right moment. It was the sort of pass that tells you a forward understands more than just the penalty area.

The Sun highlighted the same pattern of play, noting how often he slipped into midfield, knitted moves together and then exploded into life in the final third. “Not only did he provide the assist for Lacey’s opener and combine brilliantly with Mbeumo, but he also scored a sensational solo goal – he burst forward and left two defenders and the goalkeeper behind with a feint. He dropped deep into midfield,” the paper wrote.

The pressure finally told on Rosenborg once United realised how often they could find him between the lines. When he received there, defenders had a choice: step out and leave space behind, or sit off and let him turn. Either way, he dictated.

Taking his chance in Sesko’s absence

All of this comes at a significant moment in United’s pre-season story. Benjamin Sesko is out injured, and his absence has opened a crack in the door. Zirkzee has driven a boot straight through it.

The Sun were clear about the stakes: this was a performance with consequences. “He took advantage of Sesko’s absence and delivered on his promise to fight for his starting place,” the tabloid wrote. This wasn’t a quiet, tidy 7/10 outing. It was a statement.

He looked like a forward playing for more than just minutes. He was playing for a role, for trust, for a place in Carrick’s first serious XI when the competitive games begin.

Yet, just as the night seemed to paint a simple picture – rising form, rising status – a note of uncertainty cut through the optimism.

Future still in the balance

Manchester Evening News made it clear that Zirkzee’s future at Old Trafford is not fully settled. Despite his display, the Dutchman could still leave the club before the window closes. His situation, they reported, is tied in part to how quickly Sesko returns from injury.

That is the tension running underneath this pre-season flourish. On the surface, you have a forward scoring a goal that lights up social media and earns praise across the British press, while also showing tactical intelligence and versatility. Underneath, you have a decision still to be made: build around him, or cash in and back Sesko as the long-term spearhead.

For now, the images from Trondheim will linger. Zirkzee gliding past defenders, the goalkeeper falling for the feint, the ball rolling into an empty net. A striker dropping deep, threading passes, then arriving in the box at exactly the right time.

If this really was “the best pre-season goal ever,” the next question is simple: will he be around to score one that matters even more?