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Showing posts with label MANCHESTER UNITED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MANCHESTER UNITED. Show all posts

Sunday

Man Utd plot sensational De Gea return

29 October 0
Football transfer rumours: Man Utd plot sensational De Gea return; Barcelona & Real Madrid track Jesus


Manchester United plan to ask David de Gea to return to the club on a short-term deal when Andre Onana, who replaced him at Old Trafford, heads to the Africa Cup of Nations. De Gea has not joined a new club since being released in the summer. (The Sun)

Real Sociedad defender Robin Le Normand has played his way on to the radars of both Man Utd and Liverpool. (TEAMtalk)

Bayern Munich are not yet certain to reignite their interest in Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha, who came close to joining the Bundesliga giants during the summer. (Bild)

Jose Mourinho is expected to leave Roma in the summer and return to the Premier League, where he could be joined by striker Tammy Abraham. The 26-year-old is ready to return to England and is open to being used as part of a possible swap deal with Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku. (TEAMtalk)

Chelsea could also splash out €100m (£87m) on Gavi, with Barcelona fearing they may have to cash in on the youngster to help manage their financial misery. (Sport)

It would take a bid of at least £80m to convince Manchester City to entertain selling striker Julian Alvarez, who has been linked with both Barcelona and Real Madrid. (Football Insider)


Another striker on the radars of both Barcelona and Real Madrid is Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus, who is being watched closely by the two Clasico rivals. (AS)

Real Madrid will look to profit from Man Utd's interest in Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo. With a 50% sell-on clause in his contract, Madrid could trigger the 22-year-old's €60m (£52m) release clause, make half of that back and then sell Kubo to the Red Devils for €70m (£61m). (Defensa Central)

Some of that money could be used to fund a move for Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Fabian Ruiz, who is wanted in Madrid by manager Carlo Ancelotti. (Defensa Central)

Liverpool are ready to rival Manchester City for the signing of Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen, with a January exit from Stamford Bridge on the cards for the Dutchman. (TEAMtalk)

Tottenham Hotspur hope to fend off competition from Newcastle United to sign Juventus winger Federico Chiesa. The Serie A side are open to selling the £60m-rated star to help solve their financial worries. (Calciomercatoweb)

Paris Saint-Germain wonderkid Warren Zaire-Emery is set to sign a new long-term contract at the Ligue 1 champions. (Fabrizio Romano)
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Monday

Manchester United will not make Premier League top five this season

09 October 0
Gary Neville: Manchester United will not make Premier League top five this season

Man Utd were 2-1 winners against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday; however, Gary Neville does not believe they will finish in the top five this season; there was also praise for midfielder Scott McTominay after his two late goals secured the victory

Manchester United will not make the top five in the Premier League this season, says Gary Neville, although he praised Scott McTominay after his match-winning goals.

Two late goals in the 93rd and 97th minutes from the Scotland international saw Man Utd to a 2-1 victory against Brentford on Saturday - their fourth Premier League success of the season.

But despite the win, Sky Sports pundit Neville says United will finish no higher than sixth, and believes Chelsea are closer to securing a top-five spot.

"I don't think Manchester United will finish in the top five this season... but they proved me wrong last season after having a very poor start," he said on the latest Gary Neville Podcast.

"Chelsea have got a lot of talented young players. The question mark will be centre-forward and experience if something happens to Thiago Silva.

"Chelsea are not far away if they get a centre-forward and centre-half. Even though they've spent £1bn they still need two players.

"I felt sorry for Brentford because I like them a lot. But it was huge. Huge in the sense of it had been such a depressing start to the season and by no stretch of the imagination does beating Brentford at home with two goals in the 93rd and 97th minutes mean that everything is ok. Far from it. It's a mess.

"They're way off it and I'm surprised because seven or eight weeks ago I had them third again.

"The goalkeeper hasn't settled in quickly. That's a problem. If your goalkeeper isn't settled in and there's a bit on instability around that, it does create a big problem. I've had it at United.

"Chelsea are probably near to it [the top five] if they can just go on a run because they have got some really talented young players. Their age is a lot better than the Manchester United squad."

McTominay came on as an 87th-minute substitute on Saturday, before firing home twice in quick succession. Having also come through the Man Utd academy, Neville defended the 26-year-old after criticism online.

"I was happy for Scott McTominay," he added. "The stuff I've seen on social media over the last few weeks, that's when it's the classic a club is falling apart when you start to have your fanbase and media people questioning the work ethic of a kid who has come through the academy.

"Sorry, I'm not having that. That's one kid who will run through a brick wall for the club. That's the weight on his shoulders and the pressure and feeling of completely not having the support in the club to be able to actually wear your legs down.

"I've talked about heavy legs in a young player, last season with Arsenal in a title run-in we saw it.

"What we've seen from Scott McTominay in the last few weeks is being outstanding for Scotland and then he comes back to play right of a diamond against Brighton and he looks like his legs have gone.

"All of a sudden you see clips on social media of him not running back. I wouldn't look at that as anything other than pressure and carrying the world on his shoulders from being a Manchester United kid since the age of five.

"Saturday was a big moment for him and I was happy for a few of the payers that came back in because they've been battered and that's what happens when you've got a club that's failing. You end up not knowing who's the good guys and bad guys. You end up calling [out] the ones that have been there a long time.

"They've got some good lads who have come in and bought into the club. They've got some good lads who have come through the ranks.

"The big question mark at the moment is the stability that runs right through the club and it's not there."
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Tuesday

Fergie's standards, Ronaldo's emergence and why Ten Hag needs time

12 September 0
Manchester United: Mike Phelan discusses working with Sir Alex Ferguson, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag's progress

Former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan speaks exclusively to Sky Sports; the 60-year-old worked under Sir Alex Ferguson, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Ragnick; Phelan gives his lowdown on Harry Maguire, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville and Erik ten Hag

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan has lifted the lid on the standards set by Sir Alex Ferguson, and looks at the work still to be done by Erik ten Hag.

Phelan was a long-standing figure on the Manchester United bench as assistant manager to Sir Alex, before re-joining Old Trafford to work under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.

In a lengthy interview with Sky Sports, Phelan also speaks about working with Harry Maguire, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gary Neville.

The 60-year-old gave insight into the dressing room environment during Sir Alex's trophy-laden reign at the club - and how players such as Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand settled into the group after joining from other clubs.

"The beauty at United was there was a high standard there," he says. "And that standard was high.

"It wasn't just the standards that the manager put in place, or the coaching staff, but the ones that the players put in place. It was a case of: if you want to be here you accept this and you keep the standard high. And you take that on and you challenge it a lot more.

"As coaches, we were there to improve the players. Yes, they are top, top players. But you're not looking for massive improvement, you're looking at a bit of improvement. And if you get it from them all, then that's a huge improvement.

"So when you challenge with Ronaldo and Rooney, they are pretty decent individuals in their own right. Yes, they have egos - but ultimately they want to succeed and they want the legacy.

Image:Phelan was a trusted assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson

"You have to be there for them, and that was easy for me. It's about relaying those messages to them: keep your head down, do your work, you're a good player - that's why you're there - and it will all come together."

Another key factor in the standards across Phelan's two spells at Manchester United was the impact of Ronaldo, with the former assistant revealing that, during the Portuguese forward's return to Old Trafford, he lost some players due to the standards he asked for in training.

"The second time round, he came in a lot older and a lot more opinionated, strong-willed," Phelan added. "He still had massively high standards and was terrific to work with. But I'd probably say a tougher mindset. He had been at Man Utd, he had been Portugal's ever-present, he had been at Madrid.

"I liked it because he didn't want his standards to drop, he wanted other people's standards to come up. And sometimes you lose a few people along the way when that happens. I remember certain times when he pushed and pushed hard, and he didn't get much reaction or much response. And there was frustration.

Image:Cristiano Ronaldo had a turbulent second spell at Old Trafford

"When you deal with top, top people, it's about them and where they can finish and where they can get to. They want to look back and go 'wow, that was successful'. And he probably realised, and I don't know as I never had that conversation with him, that he couldn't do it at Manchester United. So his challenges were elsewhere.

"He's still playing international football, yes he's in Saudi Arabia, but he's still playing and scoring goals. He is doing all the things we knew he could do at Manchester United.

"But a really good personality, hard-working and challenging. He challenged me as a coach, Carlos Queiroz as a coach and Sir Alex as a manager. But that's good because it takes you to another level."

"The first time, the challenging part was that Cristiano came to Manchester United knowing in his own mind that he was going to be the best in the world. He had one ball under his hand and the team had another.

"And this was a young kid, one who came from Portugal and was made there, and made that sacrifice to come away from that, where he was comfortable, to a club like Manchester United and learn everything from an English and British perspective.

"He had all the skillset, the mentality - but what we tried to do with [former assistant manager] Carlos Queiroz was we tried to integrate him into the team and he responded brilliantly. His work ethic and practice was fantastic and it rubbed off on the players. They knew there was someone special there.

"In that environment, with the standards so high, the players knew this guy could take them where they needed to go and to go again. He did that brilliantly."

Phelan on... returning to Man Utd with Solskjaer



"I knew things weren't going too well at United and that Jose Mourinho was under a bit of scrutiny but I had no idea it would lead to what it led to.

"I got to my car, turned on my phone and I must have had 150 messages, lots of them repeated ones such as: 'Where are you? Get in touch!' These were from Ole, Sir Alex, from the news people. I'm thinking: 'I will take this a bit later'.

"I heard Jose had lost his job and I got a call and Ole spoke to me saying, 'I might be offered the job, would you be interested in going in again?' As I had been there, seen it and done it and it would have been a help for him. There were no second thoughts.

"The club was different from the first time round. From the inside, working with Ole, it was refreshing. He had a different way of doing things, a different mentality but the same standards as when he was a player. He worked very hard to try to achieve what he could achieve. There was turmoil there, but there was turmoil in all different areas of the club. But he was the manager and we had a job to do.

"We hit the ground running, we changed the atmosphere, the standards. We changed a lot of small things that made it feel like a Manchester United that I and Ole knew. The players responded really well and we got off to a flyer. I think we had 10 wins out of 12 and we were starting to think: 'this is crazy'.

"We tried to push it on and to Ole's credit, he was a good thinker. He allowed people to work - he was similar in his ideas to Sir Alex. It was quite refreshing.

"There were issues going on in that time that weren't going on the first time round. There was a lot more attention to things in the background, within the club and the atmosphere. You were dealing with these things a lot more than the bits you wanted to focus on which was the football. But when you're the manager of a massive club, the results get you."
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Erik ten Hag believes 'everything' went against his team during dramatic late defeat

05 September 0
Arsenal 3-1 Man Utd: Erik ten Hag believes 'everything' went against his team during dramatic late defeat

Erik ten Hag believes Alejandro Garnacho's second-half goal should have stood claiming the 'wrong angle' was used by VAR to rule out the on-field decision to award the goal; Ten Hag also felt Man Utd should have had a penalty and Declan Rice's late strike ought to have been disallowed

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag lamented a hat-trick of decisions which went against his side during Sunday's pulsating 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus fired the Gunners to a stunning stoppage-time victory as a thrill-a-minute clash came to an unforgettable conclusion.

The match looked set to end in an absorbing draw after a penalty for a foul on Kai Havertz was overturned following a pitchside review, before the VAR ruled out substitute Alejandro Garnacho's late winner for narrowly straying offside.

Image:Alejandro Garnacho beats Aaron Ramsdale but his effort is ruled out by VAR for offside

Ten Hag blamed United's defeat on various refereeing decisions, saying "everything went against us."

The Dutchman told Sky Sports: "The performance was alright from us. I thought we played a very good game but everything went against us - then you don't win the game.

"We needed a little bit more luck to win the game. It was not offside [for Alejandro Garnacho goal]. It was the wrong angle.

"It was then a penalty on [Rasmus] Hojlund and then we concede a goal that's a foul on Jonny Evans. It's so clear and obvious.
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Van de Beek out of Man Utd's CL squad

05 September 0
Donny van de Beek has been excluded from Manchester United's Champions League squad.


The midfielder has struggled for game time under Erik ten Hag - who coached him at Ajax - and was linked with moves away from Old Trafford during the summer, but remains at United following the end of the transfer window.

Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir, Jonny Evans, Sergio Reguilon, Sofyan Amrabat, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund have all been included after joining the club for the 2023/24 season.

Alejandro Garnacho has not been included in the 25-player squad but United have confirmed he will be registered on the 'B list' at a later date, meaning he will be eligible to play.

United are in Champions League Group A with Bayern Munich, Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
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