Ole Gunnar Solskjær remains at the Manchester United wheel but the Norwegian’s gamble on beginning the season with Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood as his main striking options has rather backfired, the upshot being that 17-year-old Greenwood is the only one of the trio available for Monday night’s match against Arsenal.
Having failed to lure Mario Mandzukic to Old Trafford during the summer, Solskjær will now ramp up his efforts to sign the Croatian in January. Unwanted at Juventus, Mandzukic had been in talks with the Qatari side Al Rayyan, but it has now become apparent he will not be joining them. Should United be unsuccessful in their efforts to land the 33-year-old this time around, they may turn their attention to the Lyon striker Moussa Dembélé instead. The Old Trafford outfit continue to be linked with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, although the Rumour Mill can think of no earthly reason why such a talented youngster would entertain the notion of leaving his current employers to take up with a club that is fast approaching basket case status.
United winger Tahith Chong is on the fringes of the first team, but has only had bit-parts in three senior games across three different competitions so far this season. PSV are hopeful of giving him more game time if they can get him on loan in January. Having taken Romelu Lukaku off United’s hands during the summer, Inter may now move for Nemanja Matic.
Arsenal are prepared to send Mesut Özil out on loan if they can find any takers for a misfit who has made just one Premier League appearance so far this season. Currently paying their non-playing playmaker £350,000 per week, the club are prepared to supplement the lion’s share of his wages, much like United do for Alexis Sánchez as he gads about in Italy for Inter.
West Ham midfielder Declan Rice is a man in demand, but his employers are prepared to slap a price-tag of £100m on him in the hope of scaring off potential suitors. In dire need of a man of the 20-year-old’s talents, Manchester United were repeatedly linked with him over the summer and may try to turn his head in the next transfer window.
Having just masterminded his third consecutive – and fourth in total – defeat of the season, Milan coach Marco Giampaolo has been given the dreaded voted of confidence from club director of football Paolo Maldini. “We chose the coach, we will defend him, it is right to give him some time,” he said. “We knew there were some problems that we’d run into, although obviously we didn’t expect to lose four of the first six games, but also the quality of the football is unsatisfactory.”
With Giampaolo’s dismissal looking inevitable, Milan may try to replace him with thr former Juventus manager Max Allegri. Currently on sabbatical, the 52-year-old had been tipped to take over at Tottenham Hotspur when Mauricio Pochettino inevitably decides he’s done all he can at White Hart Lane and accepts a more tempting offer from somewhere else. Or takes over at Manchester United.
