Manchester United are off until Sept. 11 when they will host Newcastle United in Premier League play. Three days later, they’ll travel to Young Boys, for their first UEFA Champions League group stage game. That said, we still have plenty to talk about this international break, as the summer transfer window draws closer to its conclusion.
We’re set to see some club vs. country rows, even more so than usual, during this set of internationals as the global covid-19 pandemic complicates everything.
Edinson Cavani will not be joining Uruguay for their World Cup qualifiers this week.
According to United’s official website: “Uruguay is one of several South American countries currently on the UK government’s COVID-19 ‘red list’ too, meaning travelling players would have to quarantine for 10 full days upon their return, further complicating the situation.”
That means his commute across the world would require him to isolate when his gets home, and that period of isolation would force Cavani to miss United’s next game. Expect to see a lot of messy situations, at several clubs, occur this international period.
Cavani has already seen his season severely limited in playing time due to travel related issues and scheduling pertaining to that.
Elsewhere, the club has issued an update on youngster Amad Diallo, a winger acquired last summer transfer window, for a move over in the January transfer window. Diallo has sustained a thigh injury during a training session, and will be now out for up to six weeks.
Finally, a couple of really impressive records were set yesterday in the 1-0 win at Wolves. United now hold the record for consecutive league fixtures without a loss at 28.
That puts them now one clear above Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal “Invincibles” who went 27 straight without defeat from April 2003 to September 2004. That was the team record/stat of note from Sunday.
On the individual level, Mason Greenwood, in scoring the game’s only goal, became just the fourth teenager to net 20 times in the Premier League. He’s the real deal and he joined an especially elite group.
The only teenagers to score more goals in league play are Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Robbie Fowler.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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