Manchester United, along with the rest of most global football, are off indefinitely, but there are still plenty of news items, related to the club, circulating today. There have been multiple reports indicating that the Premier League could return to action in June, and potentially play matches behind closed doors.
That is of course contingent on containment and mitigation of the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, please check out our all Unitedย transfer rumor starting XI and our optimal United XI with top transfer targets acquired and key players retained. Quarantine is definitely a time that requires creativity, and we do our best to provide that.
Back garden soccer skills brought to you today from @NemanjaMatic ???????????? https://t.co/JxMKp8hWDt pic.twitter.com/Vipq56DJGK
— Sensible Soccer Ltd (@SoccerLtd) April 16, 2020
(for today’s MUFC transfer rumors column go here)
We’ve certainly creativity when it comes to footballers training alone in their homes, and Nemanja Matic is the latest.
United’s Serbian midfielder certainly showcases a unique skill set in the video above as he is able to remove his shirt while maintaining the position of the ball on his back.
Also impressive is what Matic’s position group mate, Paul Pogba, does here, synergizing basketball with football/soccer.
We have certainly seen a plethora of Pogba posts on the club’s account Twitter account lately.
? Nothing but net ?
?: @PaulPogba [IG] pic.twitter.com/MF6WMDNh9i
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 14, 2020
The belief among some in the United fan community is that we’ve seen an increase in Pogba posts because an announcement of a contract extension is coming, and the club is spotlighting him now as a manuever of positive PR.
We’ll see. Only time will tell if these Pogba extension rumors are real or just worthless gossip. As anyone who has followed him closely the past couple years will tell you, the “Pogba is staying/going” narrative is typically a very fluid situation.
Sticking with Pogba, another fellow midfielder, the recently acquired in January Bruno Fernandes, says it’s not right to compare the Frenchman to Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, the two biggest superstars in the game today.
Because of his big salary, record breaking transfer fee and sometimes flamboyant public behavior, he elicits a lot of criticism, some of which is very vocal.
Liverpool legend Graeme Souness is by far the most persistent, and high profile personality engaging in this practice.
“Paul is coming from a bad moment, because of the situation,” Fernandes said to United’s official website.
“When he played also, the club and the team was not good, because the expectations are high for Paul, because Paul is a top player and Manchester United pay a lot for him, and expectations are a lot for him.
“It’s normal when you are in that situation you don’t play like a superstar, because everyone expects from Paul like they expect from Ronaldo atย Juventusย or Messi atย Barcelona.”
“Everyone expects this from Paul in Manchester, because they know he has the qualities for this. Also this is confidence in Paul. The team, we have a lot of confidence in Paul.”
It’s interesting to hear Fernandes’ comments about Pogba, as there are some who question whether or not the two midfielders can play together. On loan striker Odion Ighalo strongly believes they can, and it will go swimmingly. He recently said so and you can read that at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,โ regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the โLetโs Get Weird, Sportsโ podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link
