Manchester United have come up with an ingenious strategy to save their season. Not playing more attacking football, not signing Neymar, not sacking the manager. It’s more simple than that.
Copy Leicester.
Heard about that Ahmed Musa fella the Foxes were reported to be on the verge of signing? CSKA Moscow striker, 23 years old, bags of pace, 10 goals this season, Nigerian captain, available for £19m. Sounds good, doesn’t he? That’s what United thought too, so now they’re getting him.
That’s according to the Express, which reports that Louis van Gaal is set to swoop for Musa after Leicester had an initial £15.1m bid rejected by the Russian club. It could herald a new LVG tactic of studiously watching whatever Claudio Ranieri is doing and then doing it himself. Admittedly, Leicester have a 10-point head start in the league at this point, but at the very least it should ensure that the Red Devils don’t get relegated.
Speaking of Neymar, the Mirror doesn’t saythat Manchester City want to buy him. Let’s get that clear first. But what the tabloid does say is that Neymar would “love” to play for the Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, and that Guardiola is likely to be Man City manager next season. So you do the math(s).
The Mirror also states that Liverpool are “weighing up” a move for Udinese midfielder Piotr Zielinski, who is valued at around £11m. Apparently, any move for the 21-year-old Polish international would be bad news for Joe Allen.
The Reds should also bid for Chelsea’s unsettled centre-back Gary Cahill, says their former midfielder Danny Murphy on Talksport. But Cahill seems more likely to end up in Serie A with Roma, who want a new England defender to laugh at following Ashley Cole’s departure, reports the Standard.
In Saido Berahino news, he still looks set to stay at West Brom after Newcastle were given no encouragement in their pursuit of the striker, despite waving in excess of £20m in Jeremy Peace’s face (Newcastle Chronicle). It means the Magpies are set to turn to their former goal machine Loic Remy, who is keen to leave Chelsea although his £85,000-a-week wages could be problematic (Telegraph).
Recent Toon signing Andros Townsendrevealed in the Guardian that, when he joined the club this week, manager Steve McClaren showed him a 10-minute video of the winger being amazing. So that’s what Remy and Berahino have to look forward to.
Elsewhere, West Brom are in talks with QPR about bringing “The Beast” Sandro back to the Premier League on loan (Telegraph), Arsenal have had another bid for Leicester left-back Ben Chilwell rejected (Express) and West Ham are rivalling Norwich for the loan signing of Inter Milan full-back Davide Santon (Daily Mail).
Finally, Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce has revealed in the Chronicle he has a 60-man shortlist of transfer targets between now and the close of the window. So let’s run a sweepstake for how many he actually signs before Monday. We’ll go first: 34.
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