Manchester United have escaped the bitter chill of winter (I wish I could!) to train this week in Dubai, as a crunch clash at Tottenham Hotspur approaches on Sunday. At the same time, the Man United transfer rumor mill has been churning overtime with the January window now in full effect.
As we have a few different topics to cover, we’ll just dive right in. We start at the top with the managerial position and speculation swirling about it.
According to ESPN, the club will “continue to conduct a thorough process in the search for a new manager, despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 100 percent record in his caretaker role so far.”
The report says that Tottenham Hotspur Mauricio Pochettino remains the club’s top target, but Juventus’ Max Allegri is also in the mix. Fans, and reportedly some players too, are hoping Solskjaer gets the opportunity to lead the team on a long-term basis.
The 45-year-old Norwegian, known as the baby-faced assassin during his playing days, has made no secret of his desire to manage the team on a more permanent basis.
Shifting to player transfer rumors now, according to Tuttosport in Italy, Inter Milan are now finally ready to sell winger Ivan Perisic, who has been long targeted by United. While United’s strong interest was well publicized during the Jose Mourinho era, it remains to be seen if they still have a buy rating now under Solskjaer.
Buying a winger, or any attacking player for that matter, would be pointless right now. United have plenty of young, talented forwards, their issue is implementing a system and formation that best utilizes them. United need to
a.) find a better way to get more return on investment from big money front line players Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku and
b.) also get the younger players Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial consistently involved and thus happy.
Adding Perisic, or any other attacker is counter-productive.
-Shifting from a Croatian former transfer target to a Serbian sought-after player, Lazio president Claudio Lotito has now said that his club “rejected a €160 million” bid for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from an unspecified club. Given United’s past strong interest, and the abundance of stories claiming United pursued SMS, one can infer that Lotito is hinting at United.
However, Lotito has made public comment recently that seem to contradict this, so he may not be a real straight shooter on this narrative. The Manchester Evening News has more on that over at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.