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 after 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 news items to cover.
United’s foreign players who went back home/abroad for the quarantine are now back, and a trio of them took part in a training session at Cheshire Cricket Club.
Frenchman Paul Pogba, Belgian born and Brazilian internatioal Andreas Pereira and Swiss international Victor Lindelof were all present. They also trained in a Cheshire field and this marked the second training session that the trio held this week.
The first included Anthony Martial, who was not present for this one. There is talk that Project Restart could see teams commence group training within the next few days or so. No date has been set for when matches would resume, but the goal is either June 12 or June 19.
Former United manager Jose Mourinho finds himself amidst controversy as restart plans continue to develop. There were reports that the current Tottenham boss wanted the plan delayed a week, but Mourinho has publicly denounced those claims as inaccurate.
Getting back to Pogba, it’s looking more and more likely he stays put this summer, as very few teams will be able to afford his transfer fee and/or salary. That’s true even in normal times, but with the coronavirus pandemic hitting a great number of teams pretty hard in the pocket book, it’s likely we’ll see spending decline in the summer.
United CEO Ed Woodward has already publicly said so. And if it means Pogba has to stay it might not be a bad thing, writes ESPN’s Mark Ogden. It might even be good for all sides involved; maybe.
Finally, Woodward has reportedly commenced his summer recruiting, hitting the trail hard. His first stop, Borussia Monchengladbach’s top goalscorer Alassane Plea. The Express has more.
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 contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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