The Netherlands has been historically associated with charismatic, classy strikers. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marco van Basten, Robin van Persie to name a few. Assured in their finishing with expert technique, the Dutch have been treated to some of the world’s best poachers. Recently, however, there has been somewhat of a ‘striker crisis’ as no forward has been able to make the position his own.
By Dharnish Iqbal
Enter then Bologna’s rising star: Josh Zirkzee. As part of the Thiago Motta revolution at Bologna, Zirkzee is helping to spearhead a young attack. The average age of the strike force vs AC Milan this past weekend? 21.5 years old.
That is a heavy entrustment in youth, but Zirkzee is a player who seems a lot more mature than other attackers his age (22). When you think of youth attackers, you’re normally excited by their raw talent, and directness. They’re like a breath of fresh air because they do certain things that seasoned players don’t.
Zirkzee is beyond his years because of his link-up play and ability to play like a complete centre-forward. Normally with strikers Zirkzee’s age, they’ll have one or two good attributes but you’ll have to mould them into a striker that can play the modern game and be a part of a team’s build-up. But this is actually what Zirkzee is brilliant at.
Zirkzee’s strengths lie in how much he drags a centre-back out of position, receiving the ball deep with his back to goal. He often gets involved in the early stages of a move but also drifts out wide to support the winger to link-up and progress the move.
When Bologna have the ball in defence, they look to play it to Zirkzee as an outlet in his own half so he can hold the ball up, look to play it to the winger or attacking-midfielder and bring others into play.
Rather than just be part of the move as a striker who occupies the last defensive line, he is an important part of Bologna’s attacks at whatever stage as a creator connecting midfield and attack.
The goal he scored vs Milan had him starting on the wing as he latched onto a through ball over the top. Due to him making the correct decision and crossing the ball for other Bologna attackers when the ball eventually came back out to him after a scramble he cooly finished through Maignan’s legs.
Smart decision-making normally comes later when forwards are perfecting their skills. You can see how valuable his link-up, creation and connecting midfield and attack is for Bologna through his player traits.
Having 90% more touches than other strikers in the league and 87% more chances created than other forwards in Serie A. This is even more of an impressive stat when you think of some of the strikers the league has: Romelu Lukaku, Paulo Dybala, Victor Osimhen, Oliver Giroud, and Lautaro Martínez.
His abilities in build-up are highlighted by his passing stats, having 20 successful passes, 0.69 accurate long balls and 1.39 chances created per 90.
If he was to go to a bigger club, these attributes would be easily transferrable for him to fit into a possession-based team that patiently constructs attacks. He isn’t conjuring something out of nothing for a side relying on his abilities to produce goals and save games, so there’ll be less of an adjustment.
If you take a look at who he’s scoring and assisting against, it tends to be the bigger teams with better defenders. The goal against AC Milan adds to his tally of assisting or scoring vs Juventus, Inter, Lazio and Fiorentina.
Zirkzee joined Bayern’s academy from Feynoord’s youth setup and eventually rose to play for Bayern Munich II, making his senior debut in 2019-20. However, with Robert Lewandowski as the main man, chances to play first team football were few and far between.
After being loaned to Parma, Zirkzee suffered a serious injury during January 2021 but would find his feet at Anderlecht, in another loan spell later that summer. A year later he permanently signed for Bologna and is having a breakout season.
Remarkably his game is very similar to Harry Kane and as Arsenal, AC Milan and Manchester United lurk, Bayern have retained a buy-back clause giving them an advantage should they choose to re-sign the Dutchman.
His selfless abilities as a centre-forward have made him a target for the big clubs. After breaking out at Bologna, the Netherlands may have their next great Dutch striker.
(Images from IMAGO)
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