Manchester United are currently in the United States of America in the midst of 2018-19 preseason training.
In their match against AC Milan last night in southern California, United have now commenced the International Champions Cup portion of their preseason exhibition schedule.
Currently, you have three members of the 2016-17 United squad playing their club ball in American MLS- Wayne Rooney (D.C. United), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L.A. Galaxy) and Bastian Schweinsteiger (Chicago Fire). Go here for more on how they’re doing now.
There is certainly no shortage of topics to discuss today in the wake of some uninspiring preseason results, so let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet this Thursday.
-United will take on arch-rival Liverpool in Michigan Stadium on Saturday, and ahead of the match Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he’s adopted an evolving position on extremely heavy transfer spending. Klopp essentially owned up to seeing the light about comments he made in 2016 criticizing United £90 million expenditure for Paul Pogba.
United manager Jose Mourinho has now responded, saying he is happy for LFC given all that they have accomplished in the transfer market, but now it’s time for them to win trophies.
Liverpool have spent £250 million in this summer’s transfer window, so the pressure is on to finally win a trophy in the Jurgen Klopp era (they did finish runner-up in UEFA Champions League though).
“I think if you have the money, if you invest well, it is better than have it in the bank because the interests are very low. The problem is you have to invest well and honestly I think they did very well because every player they bought are quality players and I’m happy for them,” Mourinho said after his side beat AC Milan last night 9-8 in a penalty shoot out.
“But maybe this season finally you (football journalists) demand that they win.”
Mourinho wasn’t done taking the media to task, believing they have been too soft on Liverpool.
“You, I think have to be fair and now you have to demand and say the team with investments you are making last season, that you made in January, that you make now, that will probably be the record of the Premier League this season, a team that was a finalist in the Champions League, you have to say you are a big candidate, you have to win.”
Nemanja Matic trained with the team for the first time on Tuesday, but he has picked up an injury, Mourinho revealed.
The midfielder who was late to joining the team due to his service with Serbia in the World Cup, is a major doubt for the Liverpool clash, and it is currently unknown how long he will be sidelined.
“The important thing for me is with the group of players we have – and losing already Valencia and Matic – even worse to play against Milan’s best team and to play the way we did and get the result that could be even better than it was I think was good,” Mourinho told MUTV .
And finally, there weren’t a whole lot of highlights last night in United’s tedious draw against AC Milan (which they eventually won in a shoot out) in Los Angeles, but the play of Eric Bailly certainly was one. Bailly is happy with his preseason progress, and The People’s Person has more at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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