So, sorry about yesterday. We were ill at RetroUnited.com towers, which means we have the sizeable task of catching up with that day’s worth of news…
Done.
Nothing really was missed.
Having operated under the thought of a manager being in place so there was no need for concern, with pre-season training due to commence (and, indeed, already has commenced for a few players), supporters were hoping for two or three new faces.
On 7th May from the Daily Mail, ‘For some time now, United have been talking quietly about doing this summer’s business early.’
Unless the summer window consists of just Memphis Depay then that’s not working out too well. Still, the MEN go with the story that United have made a £20m offer for Morgan Schneiderlin. But it is likely to be rejected as the Saints are publicly – seemingly – holding out for £25m. No-one accepts the first bid.
There has been much talk about David De Gea wanting to be with Real Madrid in time to join up with their pre-season tour of Australia. The good news is that having behaved like a model professional throughout he is continuing to do so by… wait, what? He’s ‘holidaying in Madrid’ though he told the press he’s there to rest. Yep, that’ll dampen the flames of speculation, and is in no way a move designated to ramp things up.
The Daily Star continue with the idea that United want Seamus Coleman and suggest we’ll use Jonny Evans as ‘bait’. It’s an interesting idea but we can’t help but think that if Coleman was a United player and Evans was an Everton player it’d still be reported as Coleman being used as ‘bait’. There isn’t that much difference between the players, and let’s take out the obviousness that swaps barely happen. Surely this is one occasion where it makes sense, but no, United will probably find themselves on the raw end of it.
Elsewhere on the outgoings, Fenerbahce have announced that they will be signing Nani subject to a medical at the weekend.
Anything we’re missing? Well, having reached fifty, the press are recycling names, and the Sergio Ramos saga continues to rumble on with no sign of it reaching its natural conclusion of him signing a new deal. The press are leaning towards the United move happening but the lack of progress leads us to believe that before Madrid depart for Oz, they’ll have held a press conference at the Bernabeu to reveal the happy news. United, in response, will hold firm to De Gea, and the press will find another player in the Madrid ranks to link – most likely, after Benitez signs a player in a certain position. If it’s Otamendi then expect Varane to be that player. If it’s Llorente expect it to be Benzema, and so on.
Players linked to United : Dani Alves, Hugo Lloris, Mats Hummels, Nathaniel Clyne, Gareth Bale, Morgan Schneiderlin, Nicolas Otamendi, Felipe Anderson, Petr Cech, Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Gaitan, Ilkay Gundogan, Lorenzo Gonzalez, Bastian Schweinstiger, Harry Kane, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Muslera, Asmir Begovic, David Alaba, Carlos Bacca, Arturo Vidal, Joseph Colley, Gonzalo Higuain, Radja Nainggolan, Gregory van der Wiel, Mario Mandzukic, Christian Eriksen ’89, Roberto Dourado, Roberto Firmino, Memphis Depay, Jasper Cillessen, John Stones, Paul Pogba, Thomas Muller, Axel Witsel, Freddy Guarin, Seamus Coleman, Fabinho, Romelu Lukaku, Raphael Varane, Stefan De Vrij, Jerome Boateng, Dayot Upamecano, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal, Arda Turan, Jordi Alba, Seamus Coleman, Edinson Cavani
