When one door closes, another opens. A lightened workload this season means Manchester United do not need to shuffle the pack much. Especially as things, at long last, seem to be heading in the right direction.

Such is the preference for continuity that, in the draw with Nottingham Forest on 1 November, Ruben Amorim named his first unchanged Premier League line-up since taking charge 11 months prior.

That left those on the periphery left on the outside with faces pressed up against the glass with no opportunities, as United have no European football and exited the Carabao Cup embarrassingly early at Grimsby.

One of those disgruntled fringe players is Joshua Zirkzee. At a crucial juncture in his career, the 24-year-old is contemplating his future. The big-money arrival of Benjamin Sesko

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