It’s international break, and hence a slower period of news, but there’s still a ton of Manchester United storylines circulating on the internet today. The headline narrative is of course the uncertain long term future of manager Jose Mourinho at the club. Here’s a link to more on that.
Now let’s transition to what else is going on. For part two of the news collection go to this link.
If United are unable to catch Manchester City and claim the Premier League title, then Frank Lampard believes the blame will lie with the players, not with Mourinho.
Lampard told Omnisport (h/t Goal’s Dejan Kalinic):
“Mourinho is a manager that likes to win, and he has a way of winning. It’s different to Pep Guardiola, different to Antonio Conte and that’s his way.
“If Manchester United don’t win the Premier League, for me it’s the quality of the players. Manchester City have a very strong squad this year, Chelsea still have a very strong squad and I think particularly the first XI, if everybody’s fit, Chelsea are very strong.
“When I look at Manchester United, they’re there around that area, but maybe the other teams can be stronger.
“I certainly don’t think it’ll be the manager, and I actually do think that Manchester United will be competitive towards the end of the season, so we’ll see.”
-Elsewhere, midfielder Ander Herrera, the team’s reigning player of the year who has seen an unexpected severe drop in form, is being targeted again by Atletico Madrid.
If he doesn’t sign a new deal by January 1, he will be free to negotiate with Atletico. Bleacher Report has much more on the 29-year-old Spaniard, who is in line to leave on a free transfer next summer.
According to AS‘ Patricia Cazon (h/t Sport Witness), Herrera “is one of the club’s objectives” ahead of the 2018-19 season. The Spaniard is said to have turned down United’s attempts to renew his contract and “the agreement would be close to closing.” AS added, “[Manager Diego] Simeone would have said yes and the player too.”
We’ll be back with another Man United news links collection later today.
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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