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Manchester United club legend Ryan Giggs sounds exactly like most of the club’s supporters right now when it comes to summer transfer window strategy. He believes Old Trafford should acquire both Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish this summer.
Sancho has long been the top target at United, and it does appear rather likely that a deal will be struck, but it still might be a couple weeks or so until it gets finalized and announced.
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Nothing really to report on the Jadon Sancho or Jack Grealish fronts today, so let’s take a look at some of the other transfer narratives out there regarding Manchester United right now.
While the coronavirus crisis is obviously hitting every club hard and we should expect a stripped down transfer window, Old Trafford always has very deep pockets, and the club will be looking to strengthen the roster this summer. Here are a couple stories getting traction right now.
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Chelsea next plays at Bayern Munich on Saturday, in the second leg of their UCL round of 16 tie. They enter the match down 0-3 on aggregate. Manager Frank Lampard will be without the services of five players in this Champions League clash. Three players, Christian Pulisic, Pedro and team captain Cesar Azpilicueta, got seriously injured yesterday in the FA Cup final loss to Arsenal.
Additionally, Jorginho and Marcos Alonso are not available for selection as both are suspended for that game. In other words, there isn’t much to look forward to on that front, so the summer transfer window is much more compelling right now for Blues supporters.
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Like Manchester United wins the league, Liverpool owns the Champions League and Manchester City dominates the League Cup, the FA Cup is truly Arsenal’s garden. Today saw the Gunners secure European football by beating arch-rivals Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final.
Arsenal won the trophy for a record 14th time and this glory means that they have claimed four of the last seven in the competition. It also means the Gunners are headed back to the Europa League, which isn’t ideal of course, is still much better than no European football.
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Chelsea lost the FA Cup Final, 2-1, to arch-rival Arsenal tonight, but their losses on Saturday go beyond just this match. They saw a trifecta of players go down with injury, and it’s near certain that the entire troika won’t be available next weekend against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Defender Cesar Azpilicueta, along with wingers Christian Pulisic and Pedro, all left early with injuries. It’s especially tough for the last name on that list, as this was his final game in a Chelsea shirt. Pedro, who left the match on a stretcher, is set to join AS Roma.
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Manchester United have not really contended for the Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, having won it during his final season in 2012-13. They did finish second in Jose Mourinho’s second season with the club in 2017-18, but were still 22 points off the pace of their neighbors, champions and points centurions Manchester City.
They did finish third this season (the second highest finish since Sir Alex retired), and that was a remarkable achievement considering where they were in December, but they were still 33 points behind the perch Liverpool are back on.
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(UPDATE: Aug 1, 2020- Kofi Cockburn announced he was returning to school just a few hours after this was written and posted)
Ayo Dosnumo, the Illinois Fighting Illini’s best player, announced late last night that he’s returning to school for his junior season. Some saw this as a surprising move, but those are people who aren’t paying close enough attention. Ayo made a smart decision, one that benefits both him and the program.
His NBA Draft stock just isn’t really high enough now for him to bolt, but if continues his development trajectory this season, he could be a lottery pick next in 2021. That is provided of course, we actually have a college basketball season in 2020-21.
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By Caleb Thompson
As the clock hit the 60 minute mark in Chelsea and Liverpool’s second Premier League game in 2019-20, something just didn’t seem right. Maybe it was the lack of fans chanting “Allez, Allez, Allez” celebrating the day that Liverpool would finally lift the trophy, or it was the fact that team captain Jordan Henderson who has been so instrumental for Liverpool’s title winning season that he won the FWA Player of the Year Award.
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Liverpool FC are done, with all competitions, until the Community Shield and the 2020/2021 season arrives. That said it’s going to be an interesting, exciting and eventful off-season, so let’s start covering some of the happenings. As the Shelbyville tow truck guy on that one episode of The Simpsons said, “there’s a doings a transpiring.”
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Regarding the Jadon Sancho to Manchester United transfer saga, most of us are at the point of “c’mon, let’s get this party started already!” According to ESPN reports, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is basically all of us, as he wants the deal for the Borussia Dortmund winger done ASAP.
It would be wonderful if United and BVB could finally get this done, and get it over the line before the Red Devils’ Europa League clash on Wednesday night.
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Chelsea fans recieved some great news, via manager Frank Lampard, on the eve of the FA Cup Final. Two star players that were strong doubts for the cup clash, Willian and N’Golo Kante, are fit and available for selection.
There is some bad news however, as midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek joins fellow midfield man Billy Gilmour on the long term injury absentee list. While Willian and Kante could play, it still seems unlikely that either, or both, will be in the first team.
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When Christian Pulisic missed the FA Cup semifinal win over Manchester United last weekend, it was due to a mysterious, undisclosed injury. The following Wednesday, he only featured as a substitute, coming in midway through the second half, and absolutely bossing the portion of the game in which he was on the pitch.
He was then heavily involved during the Championship Sunday win over Wolves. Having missed some time for no clear specific reason, speculation mounted as to why he was absent. The American has now said that he didn’t have any injury issues, and that he’s good to go for Saturday’s FA Cup final.
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