Not all stories have happy endings, especially in football and at Manchester United in particular.
Many times have bright sparks been snuffed out by the fug of Old Trafford toxicity to go on and burn bright elsewhere, fashioning their own positive narrative after a turbulent time as a Red Devil.
The move away from United can be transformative. Whatever the club lacks it seems Napoli, for example, offer in spades – the maligned Scott McTominay turned almost overnight into a Ballon d’Or challenger as the key man in delivering last season’s Serie A, and the wretched Rasmus Hojlund has put in a solid shift in an ultimately futile title defence.
Neither will have a United redemption arc, but both go with the blessings of the sympathetic football fan. Closer to home, and potentially also halfway to Italy, Joshua Zirkzee would have given anything for a similar turnaround in fortunes while still wearing red.
It’s probably too late now, but the Dutchman has been a misfit at United since the start, his mercurial style of play at odds with the requirements of a desperate squad several years away from being able to accommodate an unpredictable showman at its focal point.
Brought in to address a lack of goals despite never being a prolific striker, Zirkzee was slowly ushered to the sidelines and now occupies the fringes of Michael Carrick’s squad with nine goals in 71 matches for United.
The interim boss has handed him barely half an hour of football across 13 matches, some of which have been begging for a creative spark from the bench. The longest the 24-year-old has been given on the pitch was 13 minutes in the hopeless 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United.
For whatever reason he is not trusted by Carrick, just as he was largely peripheral under Ruben Amorim.
That this brutal treatment has taken place in a World Cup year will not have been lost on the Dutchman, who could be forgiven some frustration. For a top-level footballer entering his prime years, his position is unenviable.
It’s a wearisome United story that a young millionaire feels slighted and reacts like a spoilt child, decorum forgotten and goodwill evaporated. Alejandro Garnacho is a perfect example, and the lasting consequences of his stinking attitude were clear as he was roundly snubbed by every former teammate after his Chelsea side were beaten by United last weekend.
But Zirkzee has remained upstanding, a model professional in an environment which not so long ago produced Jadon Sancho and Antony.
It’s deeply depressing that this is noteworthy, let alone something to be praised. But in the circumstances the Dutchman should take credit for not militating for a move at all costs, even as all the signs point to a quiet desire to leave.
His departure in the summer looks inevitable – even a change of manager is unlikely to revitalise his United career, and a fresh start is probably best for all parties. But there are ways of departing a club.
Garnacho took the nuclear option, bridges burned almost before he’d scuttled over them. Even before he eventually left he cut a malignant figure, the threat of running down his contract scowling from the stands hardly a palatable bargaining tool.
In contrast Zirkzee seems to be a team player to the last, a boisterous presence even from the background as he hurls encouragement and support from the sidelines. His cameos are often enticing too, silky touches in dying moments, but they have clearly not done enough to carve out more first-team opportunities.
Should he go this summer, Zirkzee will depart Old Trafford a failed experiment, a tantalising “what if” from a turbulent time at the club. Ironically, his comportment has shown that he has the character of a United player even as his style of play drifts him towards an exit.
If it can’t work out here, hopefully it works out back in Italy.
The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social