We’re still waiting for all that hype that entered this summer transfer window at Manchester United to be realized, but hey at least two players have actually been signed.
Hopefully, there will be more signings to talk about between now and when the season starts. Training camp is open, and in just five days United will depart for their international tour, so with that mind here are some of the top trending news items in the Manchester United online community on this Wednesday. For a collection of the top transfer narratives today, and an analysis of them go here.
Included in that transfer talk today is striker Romelu Lukaku, who joins position group mate Alexis Sanchez in acquiring a dubious distinction on Wednesday.
Football Benchmark, is a data and analytics service affiliated with accounting giant KPMG. They released a global ranking of individual player transfer market value, in Euros, and Paul Pogba is the most valuable player on United (8th worldwide, 4th in the Premier League) at €126.7 million.
However, the real story is just how much Lukaku and Sanchez dropped in value since the last ranking came out. Combined, they have been devalued €45 million over the period that the study covers- January 1 to July 1.
Lukaku dropped 22m Euro, but he’s still rated 32nd overall globally, with an estimated value of 80.3m. Meanwhile, Sanchez, 30, has seen his market value drop by €23 million.
One can see why both of these players have been so heavily linked with a potential move away this summer- Old Trafford needs to cash in as much as they can on their depreciating assets.
Speaking of handsomely paid Red Devils, Marcus Rashford became the third highest paid player on United over the weekend, behind only the aforementioned Sanchez and Pogba. Goalkeeper David de Gea, who won the club’s player of the year award in four of the last six campaigns, has already rejected a five-year contract worth £350,000-a-week.
According to ESPN, United are poised to offer their no. 1 vastly improved terms, but are still reluctant to make him their top overall paid. Given the disappointing season he just had- that’s understandable.
Of course, on the other hand, how many times has he single-handedly saved United from disaster in recent years?
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.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.