Manchester United resumed training this week, albeit only in small groups for now. There are still plenty of hurdles to be cleared when it comes to Project Restart, but confidence remains high that we’ll have the season back again come June.
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.
Late in the January transfer window, AFC Bournemouth striker Joshua King was linked to United, but ultimately Old Trafford’s interest cooled. Instead they turned their attention to Odion Ighalo as the stop gap solution to their second striker void.
As much as Ighalo wants to turn his loan move into a permanent one, it looks United might not be able to make it happen. Thus they’re back in on King, with Chelsea and two other unnamed Premier League clubs also keen, reports Sky Sports News.
With the Cherries potentially selling off some key pieces this summer, perhaps King will finally get his chance to live the dream (like Ighalo is now) of scoring a goal in a Red Devils shirt. As Team Talk points out:
“King began his senior career at Old Trafford, but never featured in the Premier League, instead being loaned out to the likes of Preston North End and Hull City before joining Blackburn Rovers on a permanent basis in 2013.”
The other player covered in this round-up, FC Schalke’s Rabbi Matondo, is also a forward. The 19-year-old winger is regarded to be the club’s fall-back option, should the Jadon Sancho (the club’s #1 target this summer) move not materialize. He would come much cheaper too, as his release clause is reported to be €60 million.
However, Manchester City have a buy-back option at €46.5 million. Amid all the reported interest from United, Matondo spoke publicly about the transfer rumors. He did pretty much the industry standard “I’m focused on what I’m doing here, but someday, hey you never know.”
You know this drill.
“I haven’t really thought about it like that,” he said to the Manchester Evening News.
“I just want to do well at Schalke and give back what they have invested into me. I just want to give my all and then whatever happens in the future happens. Never say never.”
“I am concentrating on Schalke, he added. “I still have to achieve my goals for Schalke. I am just concentrating on that and we just see how things go, but for now I am just focused on Schalke.”
The Welsh international is reportedly wanted by other English clubs too.
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.
