“If Joshua Zirkzee has the mentality to be a Manchester United player he will pull his socks up and he will come back from this,” said BBC Radio Manchester’s Gaz Drinkwater on the latest episode of The Devils’ Advocate podcast.
“If he hasn’t, and I don’t think he does considering the way he went straight down the tunnel, then he will have a short time at the club.”
Drinkwater is referring to Zirkzee being booed off the Old Trafford pitch with just 32 minutes on the clock as Manchester United trailed Newcastle 2-0 on 30 December.
He was replaced by Kobbie Mainoo as Ruben Amorim was forced to address a gaping hole in the Red Devils’ midfield.
Joe McGrath added: “I’m not a massive Zrikzee fan but I think it was poor man-management from Amorim.
“It was 12 minutes from half-time and the bad performance was more on the defenders than the attackers. Highlighting him in front of 70,000 very angry fans – it was inevitable he was booed.
“At 22-years-old he was booed off by fans and I don’t agree with that.
“I don’t think a single one of these players is good enough if we want to get back to the top.
“Maybe that is not the aim right now and it is just about climbing to become a top six team again, before going on to top four and challenging.”
Listen to the Devils’ Advocate podcast on BBC Sounds
