Ten Hag thrilled with matchwinner Zirkzee as he proves his worth at Man Utd

Zirkee scored in the 87th minute to secure a 1-0 victory.

Ten Hag later said, "It doesn't matter if he's Dutch, English or Russian or South American, he is a Manchester United player. It is very good for a striker to come into Manchester United and to score the winning goal in his first game. Remember last season, when Rasmus Hojlund in his first Old Trafford Premier League game, scored a goal and we're all waiting on the halfway line with VAR and after two minutes they came to the conclusion the ball was over the line. It took too long and we were so frustrated.

":We are very happy with him, it is very pleasing and we are very happy with him. It is also encouraging and it will give him courage and belief - and for the fans. It is a very good start.

"He has some attributes we didn't have, straight away he showed that. He is very good in his linking up and combinations and we have some good ball-playing offensive players and they can take benefit from this. But that is what I wanted to say, he has to arrive in the box. He has to arrive in the box and score goals, he did and the winner is very pleasing for everyone.

"We looked to everyone individually on the right programme and he had an injury at the end of his career in Bologna. At first he wasn't selected initially for the Euros and then a player dropped out, so they selected him. He came from his holiday after the Euros. We decided he has to build up his fitness and he had some deficits. He has had an individual programme to build up his fitness and we then had to bring him into the team training."