At the third international break, Manchester United are middling about in mid-table. Sitting in seventh place, they are still nine points off the pace for the top four, but it’s a lot better than where they were at the last international break in October, hovering over the relegation zone by a couple points.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will need some time to complete the rebuild, and get the club back up near the standard of Manchester United. The January transfer window will get here before you know it, so let’s take a look at who could be coming and going from Old Trafford in the new year.
For part one of today’s United transfer talk items, go to this link.
Remember a couple months ago when there was talk of actually bringing Zlatan Ibrahimovic back? Well, it wasn’t all that serious, but now that Ibra is a free agent again, the possibility exists. The egomaniacal forward has officially parted ways with the L.A. Galaxy, and Ibrahimovic made some slams against the club and Major League Soccer a couple weeks before he headed for the exit door.
At some point, people will tire of his narcissism and desperate attention-seeking…hopefully.
Reports in Italy are linking the supercilious Swede with a return back to AC Milan. However, Napoli and Bologna could be in the mix too. United aren’t really in the picture, and that’s a good thing.
An ex-Liverpool man coming to United? Well, the Red Devils badly need help in the midfield and Emre Can is a man who just hasn’t found his place at Juventus. He left Liverpool on a free in 2018, but has only featured four times, for a total of 150 minutes, this term.
Juve are prepared to let him go for about £30 million, writes the Daily Mail.
In sticking with Juventus, United have reportedly sent scouts to watch Turkish defender Merih Demiral, with Arsenal thought to be very keen. Metro has more on the 21-year-old here.
Finally, we’ll have a Manchester derby in the transfer market for Argentinian striker Lautaro Martinez, as both United and City are interested in acquiring his signature. The Mirror has more on the Inter Milan forward at this link.
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.