Manchester United are off until Sunday, December 27, which means it will be well over a fortnight since they last played. With two Premier League fixtures COVIDed out and United having already been eliminated from League Cup, the Red Devils haven’t staged a match since December 11, when they needed a penalty to beat lowly Norwich.
With that in mind, let’s do some transfer talk, starting with the latest on the Erling Haaland pursuit. As we pointed out last time, interim manager Ralf Rangnick is interested, and that’s a signal, possibly, to his belief that he’ll be sticking around Old Trafford longer than the end of the season.
Ralf Rangnick wants Erling Haaland to join United ? pic.twitter.com/gYCQ2lUddZ
— Man United News (@ManUtdMEN) December 22, 2021
There has been talk this week that Rangnick has made contact with Alf-Inge, the father of Haaland, and that United are not at a disadvantage with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having been sacked. For all of Ole’s faults, he was close with the father of the 21-year-old Norwegian superstar in the making, and that was considered a potential trump card in the transfer market for Haaland.
United are still considered far from front-runners though, for the Mino Raiola client. Some say Liverpool or Paris Saint-Germain are currently leading the race, while Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are probably all a better fit for the Borussia Dortmund hitman.
Manchester Evening News has more at this link.
Shifting from one Raiola client to another, Paul Pogba is expected to stay put at Old Trafford this January transfer window. That’s according to ESPN. The Frenchman’s contract situation remains unresolved, so we really have nothing new to report on that front; one that’s grown quite tedious.
Transitioning from one Frenchman to another, Anthony Martial is reportedly having crunch talks with Rangnick right now, as the forward isn’t shy, at all, about wanting away.
Sevilla is said to be keen on taking him via loan, but the interim boss wants to convince Martial to stay put.
Overall, it should be a very interesting January transfer window at the Theatre of Dreams.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.