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 on the internet today. Multiple reports indicate the Premier League could return to action in mid June, and play matches behind closed doors. The goal, potentially, would be to get the season completed in a 40 day span.
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. For today’s United transfer rumor round-up go here. For part two of today’s MUFC news and notes go here.
We begin with Erling Haaland, a United winter window transfer target, naming his two footballing idols, and they’re both former Red Devils. Haaland, who some believe United will make a move for again this summer, named Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who was with United 2016-18) and Cristiano Ronaldo (with United 2003-2009) as his football idols.
Haaland, the Norwegian wonderkid and scoring sensation who left RB Salzburg for Borussia Dortmund this January, saod the following to BVB’s YouTube channel:
“My biggest idol as a child, I had a lot of good players (to look up to).”
โFrom Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) to (Cristiano) Ronaldo, to these kind of guys. I cannot say one, so Iโll say two: Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.โ
Elsewhere, Rafael, a man who won a great many trophies and honors at United, has an explanation for why Old Trafford has fallen from grace since Sir Alex Ferguson retired- their transfer policy.
And it’s very hard to disagree with that. Only recently, have we seen the club start to find a more coherent transfer policy/strategy, as they seem to be focused on signing young, domestic talent.
Previously, it was more about just throwing all the money they had at the biggest names they could get, without regard to fit or continuity to the team.
Rafael says the club needs to look at the character of the player, and see how the individual fits in the team concept.
“It has taken too long to get back on track,”ย Rafaelย tells ESPN.
“It’s been seven years [without a Premier League title]. We did some things wrong. We started signing expensive players and giving them a lot of money. I don’t agree with that. Just because a player costs ยฃ150 million does not mean he’s good for the team. It depends on the character of the player.”
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 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.
