The big news today, from a Manchester United standpoint, is cancelling of training. New government guidelines, with the aim of slowing the coronavirus spread, forbids gatherings of the size that a training session elicits. In other United news, the club will trigger the one year option on the contract of midfielder Nemanja Matic.
The 31-year-old was set to see his current contract expire at the end of this season, hence the action taken to keep the former Chelsea man in place. This season has been topsy-turvy for the Serbian, considering the transfer rumors that swirled about him in the January window as contract extension talks with the club had stalled out.
However, it’s clear now that the playmaker, a favorite of Jose Mourinho’s while he was in charge of United, is here to stay.
“We have agreed with him so he will stay, one hundred percent,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said at his news conference on the Friday before the Manchester derby, earlier this month.
This development, plus the acquisition of Bruno Fernandes, who has greatly exceeded expectations, might signal that Pogba’s days at the club are numbered.
For all involved that might be the best thing. Pogba wants to stay or wants to leave depending on what transfer rumors column you read on a given day.
The Premier League is currently suspended until April 4, with talk that a full season cancellation could come on Thursday.
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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