With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and now, Germany, global football is currently suspended. The Premier League has been given the all clear by the government to restart in June, behind closed doors, and tomorrow United will reportedly resume training, albeit in small groups only.
However, there are still plenty of questions to be answered when it comes to Project Restart, and we’ll learn more as the days and weeks go by. Until football actually returns, we still have plenty of transfer news items to cover. So let’s take a spin through the United rumor mill in cyberspace.
For more United transfer rumors from today, go here.
According to an ESPN report today, United will allow their players who are currently out on loan to spend the rest of the 2019-20 season at their temporary clubs, should the respective leagues restart.
This group covers Alexis Sanchez at Inter Milan and Chris Smalling in Italy’s Serie A and Dean Henderson at Sheffield United. The rest of United’s players who went out on loan were to teams that play in leagues that have already cancelled the remainder of their seasons.
And we already covered the latest update of the Premier League’s situation (and hence Henderson), so let’s look at Italy. Serie A reached a consensus to restart on June 13, but the plan hinges on containment of the coronavirus pandemic. The government mandated yesterday that the plan be moved back an additional day.
Now today, according to Italy Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora, it’s all contingent on how much the country can decelerate the contaign curve.
“We all hope that the championship can restart as soon as possible but at the moment there are no certainties, as Prime Minister (Giuseppe) Conte has said,” Spadafora told the Italpress news agency (h/t Yahoo! News).
“If the contagion curve goes down, we can confirm the expected date for the restart but we have to get there gradually, moving with caution and responsibility”.
Sanchez’s Inter are currently in third place in Serie A, nine points behind table toppers Juventus. Smalling’s Roma side is on the outside looking in regarding the top four. They trail Atalanta by three for the fourth and final UCL qualification position.
As for Henderson’s Sheffield side, they are with United and Wolves in that scrap to try and move up to fourth place in the table.
So if the leagues can restart, there is a whole lot to play for, all around. Beyond the team ambitions, there is also the fact that this trio of Red Devils have uncertain club futures. Smalling and Henderson have certainly impressed while on loan, but it remains to be seen where they’ll be plying their trade beyond this season.
As for Sanchez, he’s flopped at Inter just like he flopped at United, so no one really knows where he goes from here- MLS maybe?
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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