It’s off-season for club competition, international play is almost all just meaningless friendlies currently, so you know what that means? It’s the summer silly season, i.e. time to talk transfer rumors. With that in mind, let’s dive right in to the latest surrounding Manchester United.
The biggest question mark on the club this season, by far, is Mason Greenwood.
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Given what he’s alleged to have to done, with the mountain of evidence pretty damning, he’s a radioactive asset right now. His brand name is totally toxic, through and through.
Yet, the CIES Football Observatory STILL rate him as having major value in the transfer market! Yes, really!
Hard to fathom, but he comes in 29th on their annual list of the 100 most valuable individual players in the entire world.
Yes, indeed this list is anything but an exact science (Although the outlet claims otherwise), and any player is only actually worth whatever a real life club is willing to pay for him in reality, but their Mason Greenwood valuation is set at €81.2M Euro.
Whether that valuation figures in the “off-the-pitch” stuff or not is rather moot. You can’t separate his serious legal situation and place it in a vacuum, separate from his on-the-pitch abilities.
We’ll see what happens with him.
United are pretty well represented on this list, with Jadon Sancho leading the way in 13th place (at 103.2M Euro).
Bruno Fernandes is four spots behind at 98M while Scott McTominay is valued at 67.5M Euros and Harry Maguire made the cut too.
Yes, Harry Maguire, arguably the worst player on the entire team this past season and the most major whipping boy for England and United supporters alike, is 91st, with a valuation of 52M Euro.
Really doubt that anyone would pay that for Slabhead right now though. Elsewhere we have the feel good story of the year in Christian Eriksen. The Dane came back from a near death experience and extremely scary situation last summer at the European Championships to become a regularly featured player for Brentford FC.
The just promoted last summer club is a tremendous underdog story, so their signing of the winger that you absolutely have to root for was a great fit.
You can be a Beeliever in the Bees and a supporter of Eriksen too.
While a return to Tottenham is the more likely destination, United are in for him, reports the Sunday Mirror. Eriksen will soon be a free agent, and Brentford would be willing to make him the highest paid player in their history.
However, they can’t match offers with big six clubs, who have more financial clout.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.