'Not clear ' - Why £36.5m Manchester United star was dropped at international level

The Netherlands had already pre-planned their decision to drop Joshua Zirkzee for their Nations League clash against Germany on Monday night rather than punish him for a poor performance against Hungary last week.

Manchester United forward Zirkzee was criticised by manager Ronald Koeman after their 1-1 last Friday and was subsequently left out of the starting line up for the 1-0 defeat to Germany on Monday night.

Brian Brobbey led the line in the absence of Zirkzee, though this was a pre-planned decision that was made at the start of the current international break at a time when there is no obvious candidate to lead the line.

“The main striker is still not clear for this country," Koeman said of his attacking options last week. "So I’m going to let them both both one game again.”

Speaking after the draw with Hungary, Koeman admitted Zirkzee had struggled in the match, but the good news for him from a personal level is that Brobbey also struggled in the defeat to Germany last night.

"Joshua had a very hard time," Koeman said of the United forward last week. "There was a lot of hustle and bustle around him. I also thought that he lost the ball unnecessarily a few times. It's logical, because everyone had a hard timer. Sometimes, we could have searched for him and found him faster. But he could have come over faster himself a few times. The second half was a bit better. Above all, it was very difficult."

United teammate Matthijs de Ligt was back on the bench against both Hungary and Germany, only featuring for nine minutes in total across the latest international break.