Report: Bayern Munich and Parma agree a €15m deal for Joshua Zirkzee (Update: Flick denies the rumors, says he’ll stay)

According to reports by both Fabrizio Romano and Di Marzio, Bayern Munich and Parma have reached an agreement for Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee. The deal should be signed in a matter of hours.

According to the reports, the transfer will be a loan deal with an option (not an obligation) to buy for 15m euros at the end of the season. Zirkzee will play as a starter for Parma in Serie A, where he will get much-needed minutes for his development. If this loan is successful, Bayern could manage to make a pretty penny off a single academy youth player, one that had very little chance of breaking into the first team. Of course, if Zirkzee somehow develops into a Robert Lewandowski class striker, then we’ll only have ourselves to blame.

This also means that Zirkzee is not going to move to Everton as initially thought. That’s probably for the best. While the Premier League guarantees a high level of play week-in, week-out, the young Dutchman would probably find minutes very difficult to come by in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. This would further stagnate his development, helping no one.

As fans of Bayern, we wish Zirkzee all the best in Italy. Hopefully he scores a few bangers, so Parma are convinced to take the buy option and keep him until the next club comes calling.

Update

We almost missed this, but in his press conference, Hansi Flick said that he thinks Joshua Zirkzee will stay beyond this window.

“I think that he will still train with us after the transition period. There is nothing to announce! ”- Hansi Flick on #Zirkzee.

Mind games, negotiating tactic, or poor communication? Who knows. The window slams shut soon, so we won’t have to wait much longer to find out.