Global football is currently on pause for the most part, but the Premier League continues inching towards a restart sometime late next month, with matches to be played behind closed doors.
There are still some questions regarding Project Restart, but contact training is set to resume this week, and that provides more confidence that the PL will return this season. Until football does restart, we still have plenty of news items to cover and analyze. So let’s take a spin through the Manchester United newsphere in cyberspace.
Players are currently training only in small sized groups and Monday saw midfielders Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes grouped together for the first time.
This development generated some excitement among the fan base as it’s made supporters think more about the prospect of the two being on the pitch at the same time. United left back Luke Shaw spoke to the club’s official website about how training has gone this past week, and he revealed the competitiveness on display in the Pogba-Fernandes group.
Shaw sort of confirmed what many fans suspected.
“Everyone has clearly got a high level of fitness, which shows how dedicated and professional we’ve all been during lockdown,” said the English international.
“I’ve been running with Jamo [Daniel James] a lot – he was in my group to start with, and he looked really sharp.
“On Tuesday we saw the group of Paul, Bruno, Angel and Nemanja, and those four are looking very strong and very good.”
“There was a lot of competition and shouting going on in that group. It’s clear that everyone’s still got that winning desire, even in training. We’ve missed that.”
One school of thought says the Fernandes and Pogba can’t really coexist in the same formation as they bring similar skill sets. Others believe the two would make sweet music together, as there would be a surplus of creative play-making talent and ability in the middle of the park.
A couple of their United teammates have said publicly that they believe the two midfielders can and will coalesce. Shaw also went on to say that initially, groupings of players were done by random.
More recently, it’s been decided by position grouping.
Elsewhere, the main headline story in MUFC land right now is the immediate future of striker Odion Ighalo. This could truly be his final week at the club, but he’s trying his hardest to not make it so.
According to Manchester Evening News, the Nigerian has now personally asked his parent club, Shanghai Shenhua, if he can stay with United until their season is completed.
The Chinese Super League club, however, hold the cards in this deal and they are reportedly demanding £20 million for Ighalo to join United permanently. Also, they want the striker to return to them once his loan deal expires on May 31.
The top flight in China, which saw its season delayed due to the pandemic which originated in their own country, is due to begin playing again in late June or early July.
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 contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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