Five days until the 20/21 Premier League season kicks off for Manchester United have still only signed one player this entire summer transfer window. So what is the major malfunction here?
Apparently, focusing too much on Jadon Sancho, to go ultimately nowhere in that pursuit, has really hindered their transfer business. Today we look at two more winger targets, fallback options with Sancho not happening. Well, it turns out that one of those players is now no longer “an option.”
My city. My club. My home. UTV ?? #Grealish2025 pic.twitter.com/cJFoSbdlDV
— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) September 15, 2020
Jack Grealish, Aston Villa team captain and player strongly and consistently linked with United this spring (not so much in the summer as United reportedly focused on Sancho instead) has now signed a five year extension with the Villans.
Said CEO Christian Purslow in a club statement:
“Jack is an emblem of our Owner’s vision for Aston Villa. He joined our Club as a local boy aged six and has developed into one of the country’s finest players finally becoming a full England international last week.”
“We are determined to build a top team around him and are delighted that he is extending his contract and committing himself to the club he loves.”
Jack Grealish said: “I am delighted to make this commitment to Villa. It is my club, my home and I am very happy here. The owners have made it very clear to me how ambitious they are and how they want to build Aston Villa. There are exciting times ahead and I am very glad to be part of it.”
Turning elsewhere, Gareth Bale to United, anybody? That’s an oldie but a goody, a tune we’ve heard many times before, and it’s back at the top of the playlist now. According to ESPN however, United are not leading the way in the race to get him.
No, a move back to his former club, Tottenham Hotspur, seems more likely for the Welshman who broke the world transfer record when he left the club in 2013.
According to a Forbes list released earlier this morning, Bale is the eighth highest paid player in the world (Paul Pogba is sixth, David de Gea tenth)
While Bale is considered a very difficult, if not impossible, player to move, ESPN reports that he could be sold for “just” £18 million. with Madrid needing to make big cuts to their wage bill, a subsidised loan deal aimed at sharing the cost of Bale’s £600,000-a-week salary is also on the table for Spurs and United.
Really, it would just be better involved if Real stop blocking Bale (as he publicly claims) from moving elsewhere.
He is not part of the plans at the Bernabeu, so there really is no point to forcing him to stay. The winger would probably fit in well at both United or Spurs, provided they get a practical and manageable deal.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.