Ex-Man Utd player claims Joshua Zirkzee made 'fatal mistake' with could end of his Old Trafford career

A former Manchester United star claims Joshua Zirkzee made "a fatal mistake" after experiencing the same situation in his career.

In the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle at Old Trafford, Zirkzee was brutally substituted just 32 minutes in after an ineffective display and replaced by Kobbie Mainoo.

Zirkzee's withdrawal was met by sarcastic cheers from some fans in attendance and after putting on his jacket, he quickly exited down the tunnel.

According to a Sky Germany reporter inside Zirkzee had "tears in his eyes" after the humiliating episode. The Dutchman did return to the bench and his teammates rallied around in support.

Afterwards, Ruben Amorim said that Zirkzee was "suffering" and described the decision as "really tough" before revealing he had spoken to the former Bayern Munich man.

Zirkzee came off the bench in United's impressive 2-2 draw with Liverpool last time out but former United defender Paul Parker has weighed in on his decision to walk down the tunnel.

While Parker has been the victim of an early substitution when he was at Chelsea, he stressed that going down the tunnel in such a manner is a cardinal sin in football.

Parker, speaking exclusive to SPORTBible via KTO, said: That happened to me when I was finishing my career at half-time towards the end of my career with Chelsea, and Ruud Gullit took me off in a home game against Arsenal. And to be fair, I was awful. I think Zikzee has to think the same and it is a situation that hurt me, really hurt me that happening, and there is no worse feeling as bad as that in football. I knew it, Zirkzee will know it too, but it was hard to accept. Amorim should have been willing to wait until half-time.

"It was hard for me in a big game against Arsenal, but for Zirkzee it will have been even worse. He made that fatal mistake thinking that he could walk down the tunnel, but the one thing that you don’t do is walk down the tunnel, and walk away from your teammates."

Joshua Zirkzee has struggled at Manchester United. Image: Getty

Amorim has had a difficult start to life at United but the performance away at league leaders showed a glimpse of what this team is capable of producing when on song.

But Parker believes United need to give time to Amorim, who has his own ideas that he will not steer away from.

"Everyone that has come in has failed because of what they have walked into – the meyr that they’ve walked into, it hasn’t helped them," Parker continued.

"They haven’t been able to get rid of the deadwood, had to stick with the deadwood and they’ve had to play the deadwood, knowing the deadwood isn’t good enough. And it’s cost those managers, and they know that they’re gonna get more bad times than good times.

"It seems as though they have a manager who is young and knows what he wants, he has an idea and can relate to the players as he’s still relatively young having had success as a player."

Zirkzee signed for United for a fee of £36.5 million and has scored four goals in 27 appearances since penning a five-year deal.

United are back in action on Sunday when they travel to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal in the FA Cup third round.