With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and starting this Saturday, Germany, global football is currently suspended. The Premier League has been given the all clear by the government to restart afterย June 1, behind closed doors, and with that in mind, teams are now training awhile adhering to social distancing guidelines.
However, there are still plenty of questions to be answered when it comes to Project Restart, and we’ll learn more this week as meetings are held and votes taken.
Until football returns, we still have plenty of transfer talk to cover, as transfer rumors are something that can survive anything. So let’s take a spin through the Manchester United rumor mill in cyberspace.
On loan striker Odion Ighalo wants to stay and see through the duration of his deal, and optimally, become a full time member of United. That doesn’t appear to be possible though as hisย parent club Shanghai Shenhua want him back, according to ESPN.
The new Chinese Super League season is scheduled to start in July, and they want the Nigerian back in time.
And as one striker could be departing, another might be coming in. Lyon’s Moussa Dembele has been linked to United this spring, with Chelsea said to be keen as well. Club president Jean-Michel Aulas admits they may need to sell players in order to raise funds this summer.
That said, they’ll be willing to hear offers in the region of ยฃ60 million.
Elsewhere, United are reportedly interested in potentially acquiring a pair of South American playmakers-ย Benfica striker Carlos Vinicius and Velez Sarsfield playmaker Thiago Almada.
Here’s more via Football 365, who citeย Recordย (viaย Sport Witness) in regards to Vinicius and TuttoMercatoWebย (viaย Sport Witness) about Almada.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered withย News Now.ย Banks, the author ofย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,โ regularly contributes toย WGN TV,ย Sports Illustrated,ย Chicago Nowย andย SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer forย Chicago Tribune.com,ย onย Twitterย and hisย cat on Instagram.