Manchester United, along with the rest of global football (except for the Belarusian teams), are off indefinitely, so let’s do some transfer talk instead. If there’s one thing that can survive a global pandemic, it’s transfer rumors.
We start with a return to the Erling Haaland narrative from late 2019, early 2020. United have extensive connections to the Norwegian wonderkid, via manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but they squandered their advantage in the January transfer window because they were not interested in meeting agent Mino Raiola’s demands.
Instead of joining United, Haaland left RB Salzburg for Borussia Dortmund, where he’s been a revelation. This is typical Dortmund fashion, they buy or develop young talent, facilitate their growth to the next level, then sell for a big profit.
According to ESPN, United are interested in Haaland again, and they are prepared to do battle with Real Madrid in order to obtain him. Of course, a lot of this hinges on if/when Jadon Sancho leaves BVB.
United are obviously only going to go for one of the forwards at a time, and the Bundesliga powerhouse is definitely not going to let both scorers leave at the same time.
It’s worth noting though that Dortmund don’t believe Haaland will be leaving until another season from now.
Elsewhere, the Saul Niguez to United rumors are just not going away. Remember the £89 million that Old Trafford paid for Paul Pogba in 2016?
It’s still a club and England record, but that milestone could get absolutely obliterated if MUFC trigger the Atletico Madrid midfielder’s release clause.
Sky Sports News reports that the amount would be £135m ($168m) for the Spanish international, and it stands to reason that this acquisition would signal the end of Pogba’s second stint at United.
For one, there would just be too many big name stars in the midfield, and secondly, a Pogba sale would be utilized to partially fund this acquisition. As this season has played out, it looks like a Pogba exit, possibly a return to Juventus, might just be best for all involved.
Niguez was strongly linked to Manchester City last year, and to United and Tottenham Hotspur in 2016, before he re-upped with Atleti.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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