Erik ten Hag confirms ‘hungry’ Man Utd star can feature in Community Shield clash

Erik ten Hag says Man Utd must be ‘unified’ to beat their city rivals (Picture: Getty)

Erik ten Hag has strongly hinted Joshua Zirkzee will make his Manchester United debut in the Community Shield clash against Manchester City.

Ten Hag’s men face Pep Guardiola’s top-flight champions at Wembley on Saturday in the traditional English curtain raiser for the 2024-25 campaign.

The Red Devils clinched the FA Cup trophy last term – beating City in the final – which is why they are taking part in this year’s Community Shield match.

The showdown is highly likely to see Dutch forward Zirkzee make his United debut, after he moved to Old Trafford from Bologna in a £36.5m deal in July.

‘Yeah I think he can [feature],’ Ten Hag told MUTV when asked about Zirkzee playing in the 2024 Community Shield match. ‘He is really hungry to do this because he is looking forward and he is also very excited to be coming into the Premier League.

‘To come to Manchester United and on his first occasion go to Wembley, of course that will highly motivate him, that’s for sure.

‘But he is also short in training, he had a break, he trained individually but he has now had a couple of days in the team training.’

Joshua Zirkzee is very keen to play against Man City on Saturday (Picture: Getty)

Speaking more generally about the latest upcoming battle with their Manchester rivals, Ten Hag added: ‘We have to be unified, we have to fight with each other.

‘That is the mentality we need on Saturday, we need a very good game plan of course because we are playing against a very good team.

‘They have a lot of skills and we have to be ready for that game. So that’s a big challenge because for the first time we are all coming together this season and then you have a couple of days to be ready as a team to face a very good opponent.

‘But we are looking forward [to it], everyone is very excited about this game and going to Wembley always gives us good vibes, it gives us good memories that will absolutely motivate the players.’

Meanwhile, Ten Hag has named four United stars who are ‘question marks’ for Saturday’s Community Shield match against City – Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Ten Hag has also sent a message to United midfielder Mason Mount after his ‘very bad season’ at Old Trafford in 2023-24, which was plagued by injury issues.