All the hype that entered this summer transfer window at Manchester United has essentially fizzled. MUFC have been linked with approximately 45,329 players this silly season, but only one, Daniel James, has actually been signed.
Hopefully, there will be more signings to talk about between now and when camp opens up on July 1, but until then, here are some of the top trending news items and transfer narratives in the Manchester United online community on this Monday. Go here for part two of today’s MUFC news and transfer talk.
There is one major piece of hard news today in the Premier League-
Newcastle United Football Club and manager Rafa Benitez have officially parted ways. It remains to be seen who the leading candidate to replace him is, but certainly you have lots of Magpie supporters who are strongly in favor of Jose Mourinho.
Will it happen? Is he a serious candidate? Well, according to the Daily Mirror it all depends on the currently uncertain future of the club ownership.
“Mirror Sport reported earlier this month that Mourinho was ready to talk if Newcastle’s potential new owner Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan comes calling.
He has always had a soft spot for the Geordies, since working with his mentor and Newcastle icon Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona in the 1990s.”
Meanwhile Mourinho has indicated that his next gig could be for a nation, instead of a club.
With so many question marks surrounding Newcastle right now, the future of the current player roster is up in the air and that includes Sean Longstaff. This could be a boost for United, who have been linked in transfer talk with the young midfielder all summer long.
The Manchester Evening News has more on this over at this link.
Finally, former United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has been named to the Major League Soccer All-Star game, his second nod in three MLS seasons. Go here for more on this.
Schweinsteiger has been forced into back line due duty with the Fire, due to the club’s problems in central defense. Sound familiar? Yes, both the current and most recent former team of Schweinsteiger have some real issues at the position.
It’s been a real mediocre season for the Chicago Fire, who currently sit eighth in the MLS Eastern Conference table, just outside playoff positioning at the mid-term (it’s not hard to make the playoffs in MLS these days).
Like Manchester United, they are a side that has spent big on acquiring players, have a ton of talent, but also find themselves consistently under-achieving.
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.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.