Manchester United, along with the rest of most global football, are off indefinitely, but there are still plenty of news items, related to the club, circulating on the internet today. Multiple reports indicate the Premier League could return to action in mid June, and play matches behind closed doors. The goal, potentially, would be to get the season completed in a 40 day span.
That is of course contingent on containment and mitigation of the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, please check out our all United transfer rumor starting XI and our optimal United XI with top transfer targets acquired and key players retained. We start today’s news round-up by taking another look at the potential Paul Pogba-Bruno Fernnandes dynamic.
The two have yet to play together at United, and some pundits believe they won’t fit together, because they can both fill similar roles. And with consistent speculation about Pogba’s future at the club, there has been a strong narrative around for awhile that Fernandes has replaced the Frenchman.
United Captain Harry Maguire has shut idea down.
“[Fernandes] been brilliant since he’s come in, off the field around the training ground, he’s a leader and wants to win,” the central defender said to Sky Sports.
“He’s just given us that little bit more life and creativity in the middle, something United fans have said we’ve missed over the years.
“We’ve got Paul to come back as well, who I’m sure will probably make him lift his game even more. “We have a lot of competition in that centre midfield now, they know they have to be on their game to keep their spot, so I’m sure we’ll see the benefit.”
Elsewhere, on loan striker Odion Ighalo, who has also publicly endorsed the notion of Pogba and Fernandes playing together in recent days, says the Portugese playmaker is going to take the Premier League by storm. While Fernandes has already made the Red Devils exponentially better thus far, Ighalo believes the best is yet to come.
“He is intelligent, he has foresight, he has vision,” Ighalo said to Sky Sports.
“He sees what he wants to do with the ball before it comes to him. You can see the understanding between him and [Anthony] Martial, you can see the understanding between me and him, so he’s a very good player — and he’s not even settled down yet.”
“He comes from a very different place to the Premier League. When that guy has settled down, he’s going to take the Premier League by storm.”
Scary thought for United’s opponents.
When the season suspended, United were sitting fifth in the table, but potentially in line for a UEFA Champions League qualification slot, given the European ban sanctioned against Manchester City.
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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