Happy Monday Manchester United people. Just 10 shopping days left until the summer transfer window deadline passes, with Old Trafford still having a lot of business to get done. There are only 13 more days until the Premier League season opener versus Chelsea FC.
Here is the latest news and transfer gossip items regarding the pursuit of Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire. Other than what’s included in the posts hyper-linked above, there really isn’t anything else to say right now in regards to those two transfer sagas.
However, we do have a few more things on current players who could be on the move, so let’s dive right in to this all goings and no comings edition of Man United transfer talk.
Striker Romelu Lukaku and defender Matteo Darmian were both left out of United’s travel squad for tomorrow’s friendly against Kristiansund in Norway.
The duo of want-away players have both been linked to clubs in countries outside of England, and we’ll start with the big Belgian forward.
Lukaku was with United for their pre-season tour stops in Australia, Singapore and China, but he missed out on participating in all four matches, due to what has been described as a knock or a minor injury.
As has been widely reported, negotiations between United and Inter Milan are ongoing, but the two sides remain very far apart in valuation. United have rejected a 60 million euros (£54 million) bid from Inter Milan, and it remains to be seen whether or not that they can actually come to common ground and get this over the line in time.
Of course, it helps that the Italian transfer window stays open a couple weeks longer than England’s. Speaking of players potentially going to Italy, just about every time Darmian hears his name mentioned in transfer gossip, the speculated upon destinations are in his home country.
This time though, it’s a surprise- FC Barcelona of all places. Hard to imagine that Darmian gets a better playing time situation in Catalonia, but the United outcast is wanted by the La Liga champions according to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo (via Sport Witness).
Darmian has been strongly linked with a move away for the past several transfer windows, so it is long past overdue the 29-year-old left back gets the opportunity to move on.
Speaking of defenders who don’t play and want out, and would be best served with a fresh start elsewhere, Marcos Rojo is showing up again in transfer talk. According to ESPN, the Argentine will consider a move away if he doesn’t see a real opportunity for consistent first team time this upcoming season.
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.
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