It’s the off-season for all club competition, almost all of the international play currently being staged are just meaningless friendlies, so you know what that means? It is indeed the summer silly season, i.e. time to talk some transfer rumors. So with that in mind, let’s dive right in to the latest narratives surrounding Manchester United. And we’ve got a double shot of MUFC transfer talk for you today! The second post can be found at this link.
As of now, United’s transfer window is, well, it’s lying on the ground and you can poke it with a stick to see if it has any life at all. That’s from the incomings perspective. Hence we’ll discuss the outgoings (where there is a lot of action) in this post.
Yet another loan move for No. 2 Dean Henderson? That’s the word from ESPN, who report that Nottingham Forest are indeed interested. The report states that newly promoted Forest “are keen to negotiate an initial loan move for Henderson, who has told United chiefs that he wants to leave Old Trafford this summer.”
Henderson spent this past season riding the pine behind No. 1 David de Gea, after having briefly usurped his position during the previous term. Dean Henderson, who signed a new five year extension with the club in 2020, was solid in his 26 appearances during the 2020-21 campaign, and was overall pretty impressive during his loan spell with Sheffield United.
Dean Henderson needs to go elsewhere to get playing time, to try and help his England World Cup squad chances, and United are not ready to sell him outright.
They would prefer a temporary move instead. He’s been previously linked with Newcastle United.
Elsewhere, Paul Pogba has now sealed his return to Juventus. That’s not news, as we’ve known that was going to happen for some time. What is newsworthy, however, is what he had to say in his upcoming movie “The Pogmentary,” which drops on Friday.
The Amazon Prime film is not a “documentary,” so please don’t refer to it as such. Any time the subject of a film has creative control over the production, it is by definition NOT a documentary.
In the vanity project, Pogba hits out at United’s failing to extend his contract, and says this perceived snub gives him motivation to be his best self and prove them wrong.
“My thought process is to show Manchester [United] that they made a mistake in waiting to give me a contract,” he says in the film.
“And to show other clubs that Manchester had made a mistake in not offering me a contract…How can you tell a player you absolutely want him and offer him nothing? Never seen that.”
That certainly explains (although it does not justify) the way the Frenchman totally gave up on his team during the final weeks of the season.
He completely peaced out of the massive blowout at Liverpool, with an injury that was far from convincing. Now we understand his actions, despite not exactly agreeing with it.
Oh wait, never mind! Pogba wasn’t offered “nothing,” he was actually offered what amounts to about $20,000,000 a year in salary, look:
? Paul Pogba documentary shows him and Mino Raiola turning down ‘nothing’ £300,000-a-week offer from Man United. pic.twitter.com/Bc6mtOX0Bm
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 16, 2022
OMG! Could this guy be destroying his image any more if he tried?
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.