Happy Sunday Funday Manchester United supporters! There are just 11 more shopping days left until the summer transfer window deadline passes. And that means we have just 14 more days until the Premier League opener at home versus Chelsea FC.
Here is the latest news and transfer gossip items regarding the pursuit of Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire. We also have a couple more things relating to a couple of former players, so let’s dive right in and get started.
Maguire not just featured, but went the whole 90 minutes for Leicester City in their 2-1 preseason exhibition win over Stoke City. Not exactly the actions of a man who is on the move to another club.
After the match, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said he’s “relaxed” about all the transfer speculation surrounding his 26-year-old English centre back. (Not a good sign for getting this deal finally done)
“He’s been brilliant since the first day of pre-season,” Rodgers said after the game, via the Leicester Mercury.
“There’s a lot of speculation around Harry but he’s just got on with it. Like I’ve always said, we’re all pretty relaxed with it. We’re looking to prepare the whole team and squad and Harry’s a part of that. He was excellent today, he’s working very hard.”
Much better news, if indeed the narrative is legit, surrounding Sporting CP midfielder Bruno Fernandes. Supposedly an agreement has been reached! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this comes to fruition or not.
According to popular Spanish news outlet SPORT, the Red Devils have reached an agreement of around £70m for the Portuguese international star.
Finally, as you know Major League Soccer is indeed red, with ex-United players Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney and Bastian Schweinsteiger all plying their trade in MLS.
Last night saw Rooney versus Schweinsteiger for perhaps the last time. Basti is in his third season with the Chicago Fire (5-10-9, 24 points), and it remains to be seen whether he’ll return for a fourth season in 2020.
He might, but given the deteriorating state of the team, their desperate need for a roster reboot, and just the transitional nature of the club right now as they massively revamp other components, one wonders if it actually makes sense for either side that Schweini comes back for a fourth year.
Rooney and D.C. United (9-6-9, 36 points) visited the Fire and played them to a 0-0 draw (riveting!) in which both sides combined for only 3 shots on goal (exciting!). When the two teams met at D.C. earlier this season, the result was a 3-3 draw.
Last year, the two teams closed the regular season by meeting in this venue, and again the result was another boring goalless draw. After this match last night, Rooney spoke to the media, but Schweinsteiger was not available.
D.C. United Forward Wayne Rooney
On what needs to change for the attack…
“I think there’s a few things, which we are working on and trying to get better at, but also I think there’s times when we are in good positions, and you know, personally I feel the referee gives fouls against me and doesn’t give fouls for me.”
“I don’t know if it’s so much, maybe’s it’s the red card, or the yellow card, but they’ve been told not to give me fouls. I don’t know but it’s disappointing.”
“There’s some clear fouls which, which I probably should not tell you, but it’s frustrating. It’s happening game after game. I think if the referee is honest and you look back at the games, they will see themselves, there is a lot of fouls not given.”
On how tough it was for D.C. United to break down the Fire…
“The league is so tight. The playoff spot is now bunching up there with three points off the top of the league. I think it’s five or six outside from out of the playoff position and so, it’s very tight.”
“It’s going to be tough, we have a lot of tough games, especially away from home to go, so we have to keep trying grind out points.”
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 appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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