For part two of today’s United news and notes go to this link
With the FA Cup complete, the offseason is now here for Manchester United. The Red Devils won’t be reunited again until training camp in July. However, it’s going to be a very busy summer, and exciting transfer window at Old Trafford, with a whole lot of topics to discuss. Today is a busy news day, so let’s take a spin through the headlines.
United manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly furious with the two Belgian internationals on his side, Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini, because he feels neither made a full effort to be involved in their FA Cup final loss to Chelsea yesterday.
Mourinho seemed to blame Lukaku in part for the defeat, questioning his willingness to overcome the pain barrier.
“When a player tells you he is not ready to start, then the question is how many minutes do you think you can play,” said the Portuguese. “How can I convince a player who tells me he is not ready to play?”
Mourinho also pointed to the absence of Fellaini – “They are not stupid, they know without Lukaku we don’t have a presence, without Fellaini we don’t have a presence” – even though it has since become apparent that the midfielder was available.
Fellaini was apparently fully fit, but still omitted from the squad anyway, and the Daily Mail reports that Mourinho felt the Belgian duo were holding themselves back in order to make sure they weren’t hurt for the upcoming World Cup. Speaking off, Belgium just announced their roster and you can view that at this link.
In keeping with Fellaini, he remains unsigned, and his club future is still up in the air. According to AC Milan sporting director Massimiliano Mirabelli, Fellaini will not sign an extension to stay United.
Mirabelli told Sky Sport Italia (h/t ESPN FC):
“He’s high profile and we want players of his calibre, but it’s going to be hard to get him, even though we know he’s not renewing his contract with Manchester.”
“We are going to do something in that position, but we are keeping the cards close to our chest. We’re going to strengthen our squad and raise the bar because we’ve only reached our minimum objective.”
The Fellaini contract impasse reportedly seems to be over United’s interest in only granting the 30-year-old a one-year extension, while the attacking midfielder is looking to gain a multi-year deal. His agent has been free to negotiate with clubs outside England since January.
-Finally, Alexis Sanchez was a total non-factor in the FA Cup on Saturday, and he drew a scathing critique over it from Paul Scholes. Prior to the match, via the FA Cup match day program.
“I think that in every game I’ve played in up to now, I’ve maybe found it hard to adapt to the style of play and I’ve been getting to know my teammates,” said Sanchez.
“Manchester United is a massive club which always aspires to win big trophies and that is what I’m trying to help make happen, I want to try and keep improving so we can see the club winning trophies, so I really hope to win The FA Cup again against Chelsea.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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