Welcome to the summer silly season! And of course, you can’t say “summer transfer window” at Manchester United and not talk Jadon Sancho. Today however, has not brought any new developments on that front. The latest Sancho transfer update is available at this link.
The Borussia Dortmund winger was left out of the squad entirely today, for England’s 1-0 win over Croatia in their Euro 2020 opener. And that brings us to the other two United related news developments from the Three Lions win today.
Marcus Rashford started on the bench and came on in the 71′ for Phil Foden. He played out left and up top, and had a solid showing, but it was Raheem Sterling who got the starting nod over him, as well as Jack Grealish. Gareth Southgate elected to not have a left back, so although Luke Shaw was in the team, he didn’t feature. Dean Henderson was on the bench as Jordan Pickford remains the England No. 1.
England looked very sharp in their Group D opener, at the national stadium, as chants of ‘Football’s Coming Home’ are already, very prematurely, being sung at Wembley, the streets that surround it and pretty much everywhere in England. Yes, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
We did learn today though that Harry Maguire is ahead of schedule in his rehab for the ankle injury that forced him to miss the run-in of United’s 20/21 season, including the Europa League final.
That said, he still wasn’t fit enough to be in the Three Lions squad today, so it goes to show you that his injury is actually pretty serious.
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. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.