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 transfer rumors to cover. So let’s take a spin with through the MUFC rumor mill.
For today’s MUFC news and notes round-up go here.
It’s time for an update on Lyon striker Moussa Dembele, who’s been linked with both United and Chelsea this spring. And according to this update, it’s good news for United, as the Express claims an agreement in principle has been reached.
The publication quotes a fee agreed at £61.8 million (€70m) for the 23-year-old Frenchman who came up through the Paris Saint-Germain and Fulham systems. Dembele could provide that need for a second striker, a void that’s existed since Romelu Lukaku left, but has been filled nicely and surprisingly with Odion Ighalo.
Ighalo wants to stay and certainly he’s earned a place, but it doesn’t look possible right now as his parent club, Shanghai Shenhua, want him back.
Elsewhere, if the Jadon Sancho acquisition doesn’t happen what is the contingency plan? Well, the fallback option is also in the Bundesliga, and it’s FC Schalke winger Rabbi Matondo. That is according to the Manchester Evening News, who report that United see the 19-year-old as a much more cost-effective alternative.
As the Bundesliga returns tomorrow, the very first match is the Revierderby, between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund. It’s a chance to see Sancho vs. Matondo.
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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