French TV show Telefoot has revealed that Bastian Schweinsteiger refused to leave Old Trafford this summer despite Marseille making a firm approach for the midfielder. Surplus to requirements at Old Trafford after José Mourinho decided it would be “very difficult” for the 32-year-old German to play his back into his plans, Schweinsteiger has since dropped behind Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, Morgan Schneiderlin, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Joel and Avram Glazer, the lady who makes the half-time tea, three cashiers from the Megastore, the Class of 92, Fred the Red and those unfortunate children who were painted blue as part of that Old Trafford X-Men promotion in the United midfield pecking order. However, he seems determined to see out the remaining two years of his contract, having reportedly turned down Marseille and left Mourinho in a state of near apoplexy after refusing to join Sporting Lisbon on a free transfer.
Despite his manager’s lack of faith in him, Schweini believes he can force his way out of exile and back into United’s first team and the performance of those midfielders who did feature in Saturday’s Manchester derby is unlikely to have diminished that particular view. In similarly pertinent news that may have surfaced before 12.30pm last Saturday, Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard is to be rewarded for his “good form” with a new four-year deal. United are also interested in signing 18-year-old Cypriot international midfielder Grigoris Kastanos, who is a product of the Juventus academy.
Having left Juventus during the summer after failing to achieve anything more than understudy status during his four years at the club, Uruguayan defender Martín Cáceres is a free agent and is wanted by West Brom, Sunderland, Swansea City and Southampton. Meanwhile at Watford, Troy Deeney is the subject of speculation linking him with Everton, who are reported to be interested in bringing him to Goodison Park during the January transfer window.
Deeney took advantage of a comical mix-up between James Collins and Adrián to score with an audacious effort in Watford’s come-from-behind win against West Ham on Saturday and subsequently cited the showboating of opposition players as the motivation for his side’s comeback. “You know, they started doing the flicks and the tricks,” he said. “I just thought after 30 minutes doing that was a bit lively. So we need to thank them really, because they stoked the fire and everyone started laying a glove on people. We scored two goals just before half-time and that really changed the balance of the game.”
And finally, Tottenham winger Erik Lamela will be happy to ink a new deal with Tottenham Hotspur, if the club reciprocates by doubling his wages to £120,000 per week. Nice.
