Man United star 'turned up a stone overweight' with Erik ten Hag left 'unhappy' before sacking

United forked out £36.5million on Zirkzee back in the summer, with the Netherlands international touching down from Bologna.

His time at Old Trafford got off to a flying start, with the forward netting on his debut in a 1-0 victory over Fulham.

However, Zirkzee has underwhelmed at United in the time since.

And The Sun say the 23-year-old, who has also been linked with a move away from the club as the January transfer window creeps closer, turned up a 'stone overweight' upon initially joining.

This reportedly left Ten Hag 'unhappy', especially given how the fallen giants had to cope without Rasmus Hojlund during the early weeks of the campaign.

The report says it has 'taken a while' for Zirkzee to shift the extra weight.

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And Ten Hag seemingly didn't even want his compatriot, who wasn't his 'first-choice' signing.

Zirkzee was benched on Sunday as United drew 1-1 with Chelsea.

He only came on with six minutes remaining, with Hojlund seemingly above him in Ruud van Nistelrooy's pecking order.

It remains to be seen if Zirkzee can turn his time at United around, especially with the arrival of Ruben Amorim on the horizon.

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Ten Hag was sacked last week, less than 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham.

United immediately confirmed that Van Nistelrooy had been placed in charge on an interim basis, having previously been Ten Hag's assistant.

But Amorim will be United's next permanent manager, with the 39-year-old set to start working in his new surroundings on November 11.

Meanwhile, former England boss Fabio Capello recently opened up on Zirkzee.

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And he says the Netherlands star has struggled at United due to the intensity of the Premier League.

The Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “After Bologna’s defeat at Aston Villa, I asked [Bologna manager] Italiano [Vincenzo] what impression he had of the two English teams he faced immediately, Aston Villa and Liverpool.”

He then added: “They run, they go faster, they have a different pace.

“Go watch Zirkzee play in the Premier League and tell me if he seems like the same player we admired in Bologna.

“In Italy, he did what he wanted, in England, he doesn’t even have time to think about the play before the ball is stolen from him.

"More or less the same thing happens to our teams.”