Important Week For Manchester United

After a largely somnolent and often negative offseason to date, this could be the week that Manchester United takes a positive step toward rebuilding its reeling side. Manger Erik ten Hag will take to the pitch in leading his first practice sessions for the club at their Carrington Road facility.

Here we go, Erik ten Hag arrives at Carrington for Manchester United's first day of pre-season training hours before players are due pic.twitter.com/6kPvKH7iZl

— Edmundoz006 (@EddieEdd10) June 27, 2022

Players not involved with recent international duty will go through the paces for the Dutch manager who will be happy to lose himself in actual football for at least some respite from the frustration of this offseason. United is one of only two clubs comprising the traditional Top Six of English football which have yet to add a player in this transfer window. Chelsea can be excused for a late start in the face of a disruptive ownership change. It is more difficult to excuse the lack of progress made at Manchester United.

The advent of a new managerial regime follows on the wreckage of last season which saw the club’s worst ever Premier League finish. On field embarrassment has been matched in the post-Ferguson era by off-field incompetence. Chief Executive Officer Richard Arnold exclaimed to fans in a pub some weeks ago that the club had burned money on wasted transfers in the recent past. Supporters looked for hopeful beginnings under new manager ten Hag and football director John Murtough. Instead, Manchester United dealings have lagged in a manner not uncommon for the club in recent windows.

The primary focus has been a well-publicized chase for Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong. The impact on negotiations of publicly identifying one player as the key to their fortunes has been a debatable ploy from a negotiating perspective. The player has also been reported to have misgivings about joining his former manager in the attempted rescue of the broken Manchester club. The Dutch international played under ten Hag at Ajax where the two helped lead the Eredivisie champions to a European Champions League semifinal. De Jong joins current Ajax defender Jurrien Timber as former players for ten Hag who seem disposed to wish their old manager well from afar.

The attraction of Old Trafford has dimmed so greatly that former Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan star Christian Ericksen is supposedly undecided between the opportunity to play for the legendary Red Devils or a Brentford club which has played just one season in the Premier League. Eriksen would be a free transfer. United needs to reach agreement on price with Barcelona on the still under contract de Jong. The clubs have been wrangling for over a month now. United supporters were angry this past week on word of a dividend being paid to Glazer led ownership in an amount which would have likely sealed the de Jong transfer if so applied. This week will be telling for new Manchester United transfer decision makers ten Hag and Murtough. Barcelona is under pressure to balance their books before the end of their financial year on June 30th.

The financial reporting deadline adds to the already present need for the Spanish club to raise monies to fund incoming player transfers. De Jong is not deemed critical to Barcelona Manager Xavi’s plans. Barcelona is thus highly motivated. Ten Hag, on the other hand, would like to have his pivotal player on board before his other international players arrive next week for one week of practice together before they depart the training ground for preseason matches. This is an important week for Manchester United to give its fans encouragement and instill faith in the ten Hag project. 

 

A Look Into Arsenal’s Window

Arsenal has closed a few low-profile signings in the current window, but major splashes might still lie ahead for the Gunners. Gabriel Jesus remains the marquee name associated with Arsenal. The Manchester City forward is currently in the shop window for Manchester City and is linked with a move to the Gunners. Jesus would clearly be an upgrade over any attacker currently on the Arsenal roster. The forward has scored 95 goals in 236 appearances for City. Despite a lack of Champions League football next season, Arsenal offers the Manchester City forward an opportunity to reunite with Mikel Arteta who worked with Jesus while the Arsenal manager was an assistant at Manchester City. Jesus will need to trust in an Arteta commitment to provide the additional playing time the player is unlikely to find in Manchester, particularly after the arrival of Erling Haaland.

🇧🇷💚⚽️ pic.twitter.com/TeeS8LQGmb

— Gabriel Jesus (@gabrieljesus9) January 26, 2022

A potential Jesus signing is not without questions for Arsenal. Arsenal desperately needs a striker to bolster a deficient attack but does Jesus, despite his obvious talents, fulfill that role? Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola played several players in a “false nine” role last season in a clear indictment of Jesus as a central force. The Brazilian has often seemed more comfortable on the right flank where Arsenal already has rising home grown star Bukayo Saka. Gabriel Martinelli, who is on the fringes of the Brazilian national team as is Jesus, also plays on the right-hand side of Arsenal’s front line with occasional appearances in the middle.

The Gunner’s need a solution to their striker problem after the ugly departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona last season and the departure of Alexander Lacazette on a free transfer after his contract expires this month. Arsenal academy product Eddie Nketiah showed flashes at striker last season but remains an uncertain option. Lacazette’s departure is just the latest example of poor business conducted by the Gunners. Arsenal’s net spending on transfers is higher than any other Premier League club for the period covering the last five transfer windows. Unfortunately, the failure to recoup any value from the departure of top players such as Aubameyang and Lacazette accounts for this standing rather than any incoming big-ticket stars. Recently signed deals have been relatively modest. Fabio Vieira was signed from Porto earlier this month. The young attacking midfielder scored six goals in 27 Primeira Liga appearances last season and has noteworthy playmaking skills. Vieira’s top-level experience, however, is limited to two seasons of regular duty in the Porto line-up and the small framed youngster is expected to take time to adapt to the physical play of the Premier League. 19-year-old Brazilian forward Marquinhos, singed from Sao Palo, also represents a longer-term investment. US goalkeeper Matt Turner was signed during the January window and joins Arsenal this month from MLS ‘s New England Revolution. Jesus would be a different level acquisition. Similarly, Arsenal supporters would be thrilled if the Gunners could also secure the services of Jesus’s fellow Brazilian Rafinha. The attacking midfielder for Leeds has been linked with Arsenal and PSG but the Brazilian supposedly covets playing for Barcelona.

Arsenal is also rumored to be in the running for the signature of Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez. The Gunners, however, are unlikely to splash the cash on multiple star players without generating monies from clearing the roster of some current players. Standing in that departures queue should be winger Nicolas Pepe who has disappointed after his club record signing. However, there is little interest from other clubs after Pepe netted just one goal in 20 Premier League appearances last season. As with Aubameyang, whose transfer cost was the Gunner’s previous record before Pepe’s arrival, the Gunners will have difficulty salvaging any reasonable portion of their original transfer investment. That type of business impacts the monies available as Manager Mikel Arteta attempts to strengthen his club. 

Chelsea Rumored As Raheem Sterling Suitor

Chelsea’s reported interest in Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling raises questions for both clubs. Sterling is the subject of a rumored move from Manchester City for a second consecutive summer as the dynamic forward was reportedly offered by Manchester City to Tottenham Hotspur in last summer’s failed bid to acquire Harry Kane. Former Liverpool player Sterling has one year remaining on his contract with Manchester City and the club would clearly like to recoup some value rather than have Sterling leave on a free transfer one year hence. Sterling, meanwhile, is looking to play a bigger role for a club as his minutes for Manager Pep Guardiola’s side have diminished.

Chelsea are looking to bring Raheem Sterling to the club this summer 🔵 pic.twitter.com/dTWYAPr1BJ

— GOAL (@goal) June 19, 2022

Sterling started only 28 of 50 matches for Manchester City in Premier League and Champions League competition this past season. Sterling’s 13 goals in league play were five more than any current Chelsea player. Manchester City has now added striker Erling Haaland who is expected to become the focus of the Manchester City attack. Young Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez is also expected to join the front line options for City following conclusion of his current loan stint at River Plate The problem for Manchester City is that Gabriel Jesus is expected to leave during this transfer window, potentially to Arsenal, and  Sterling and Jesus have added an element of athleticism to City’s attacking options which can’t be found elsewhere on the roster. The loss of both Sterling and Jesus in the same window could thus be risky.

Another talented Manchester City wing player, Bernardo Silva, is also rumored to be leaving in favor of long-desired employment in Barcelona. Chelsea Manager Thomas Tuchel has certainly been frustrated with his attacking options and appears on the verge of shipping Romelu Lukaku back to Inter Milan via loan or outright sale just one year after the club’s record signing was purchased. Lukaku contributed only eight goals in the Premier League this past season amid reported unhappiness by both player and manager. Sterling is a much different player from central striker Lukaku and is most comfortable being deployed on the left wing where Chelsea currently have Christian Pulisic and Timo Werner. Like Lukaku, Werner has been a disappointment for Manager Tuchel and saw his minutes dwindle this past season. The former RB Leipzig forward has had difficulty converting golden chances, a trait Sterling also displays to a far lesser extent. The much more accomplished Sterling has 131 goals in 339 appearances for City while winning 10 major trophies with the club. Pulisic, meanwhile, has had continual fitness issues at Chelsea which have limited his opportunity to shine in blue. Chelsea’s initial bid for Sterling was reported to be well below Manchester City’s valuation so the extent of interest by Chelsea to bring Sterling to London, where he grew up from the age of five, is questionable.

The interest by Chelsea in Sterling could be merely exploratory as the club monitors the situation with Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich striker has exceeded 40 goals in seven consecutive seasons for the Bundesliga club which he now wants to leave for a fresh opportunity with Barcelona. Chelsea Manager Thomas Tuchel would love nothing more than to swoop in for the Polish international should talks fail between financially strapped Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Other rumored attack targets for Chelsea include Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele and RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku. Dembele, however, is injured more often than Pulisic and Chelsea and may have reservations about dealing for another young RB Leipzig striker in Nkunku after its disappointing returns from Werner.