With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and starting today, 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.
For today’s second set of MUFC transfer rumors go here.
We start with, of course, the top target of the summer, Jadon Sancho. As the Bundesliga returned today, the very first match was the Revierderby, as Sancho’s Borussia Dortmund utterly thrashed FC Schalke 4-0. It was no doubt one of the most watched matches that this rivalry, and the German top flight, has seen in a mighty long time.
The Bundesliga is the first of Europe’s big five football leagues to restart, and the highest profile sporting league in the world that is currently active. So all eyes were on Germany, but not on Sancho as he began the match on the bench. USMNT rising star Gio Reyna started in his place due to what was officially deemed a slight muscle strain.
Then Reyna himself got injured during warm-ups, so he was replaced in the starting XI by Thorgan Hazard. So Sancho was actually the third choice at this wing position today, and we didn’t see him until the 79′.
Jadon Sancho comes on for BvB.
Manchester United fans right now. pic.twitter.com/9sMMht5TGA
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) May 16, 2020
United fans watched very closely, and many just over-analyzed the events of the day and spun them into whatever narrative they wanted, regarding his potential transfer to Old Trafford.
90 Min captured the social media madness perfectly in this post.
Hazard found the back of the net today as did Erling Haaland, a United transfer target in the January window. There are some who believe that United will be back to try again for Haaland this summer, but that narrative seems a bit far fetched, to say the least.
Haaland, a Norwegian wunderkid whose father has strong connections to United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, say his global profile raised today with his creative goal scoring celebration.
Haaland is so ill ?, imagine this celebration on FIFA 21 after you concede a 90th minute goal in Fut Champs. https://t.co/LqgnMO6KMj
— Pys (@CFCPys) May 16, 2020
It was his tenth goal in his last nine games, and he proved to the be the game winner. The man of the match though was Raphael Guerreiro, who achieved a brace.
There were of course no fans allowed in, but after the match BVB kept their famed tradition alive of turning towards the world renknowned Yellow Wall (the legendary supporters section) and thanked them…even though they weren’t present.
It was a lovely yet eerie, and completely surreal, moment. While there may be no fans, football at the highest level is now back, and BVB achieved their 800th win.
Dortmund always thank the Yellow Wall after a game.
Some things never change ?? pic.twitter.com/Ew5nxMRfwt
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 16, 2020
On the other side, Schalke winger Rabbi Matondo has been regarded to be United’s much cheaper fallback option should they fail to acquire Sancho. He didn’t have a good day either, as he was benched for the first half and got booked with a yellow when he came on in the second half.
So it wasn’t a good day for United transfer targets in this match, and the Daily Star has more on this.
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.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.