The policy of targeting players with a point to prove is fine provided the club has the right people to guide themWith Manchester United on the hunt for a centre-back who could do for them what Virgil van Dijk has done for Liverpool, it is no wonder they are sniffing around Leicester City. After all, if Van Dijk’s solidity is encapsulated in that oft-repeated statistic about no player managing to dribble past him last season, then it makes sense for United to pursue the defender who was just below the Dutchman in that ranking, the next best. Taking due care to eliminate daft outliers by restricting analysis to central defenders who played at least 1,500 minutes in last season’s Premier...
Lampard gets it, Solskjær too. Sentimentality goes a long way in football – but it takes more to win a titleIn most lines of work your job application would discarded straight away if you listed “getting it” as a key skill. Be aware that it might come across as slightly vague, a bit fluffy, damning evidence of a lack of substance. You would probably be written off as a spoofer attempting to blag your way through life. A bluffer. A charlatan. A fraud.Unless, of course, you happen to be applying for a job as manager of a football club grasping for a way to connect with a discontented fanbase. Then it makes perfect sense to place a heavy focus on...
It sums up recent Old Trafford troubles and the perilous nature of management that Moyes was so swiftly moved onIn the parallel universe of where Manchester United imagined they would be six years ago David Moyes is planning a little party this weekend, inviting a few close friends around to mark the successful completion of his first Old Trafford contract.The manager has long known he would be staying at United for many years more than that – he basically gave himself the right to draw up his own terms in his annus mirabilis season of 2015-16, when he signed Jamie Vardy, won the league and the FA Cup and succeeded in persuading David Gill to return in place of floundering...
Manchester United have been looking at a director of football for some time now but nothing has happened. No wonder players are thinking twice about joiningSpare a thought for Ed Woodward. As if Paul Pogba issuing a come-and-get-me plea so unsubtle he might as well have jumped out of a cake in the shape of the Bernabéu wasn’t distracting enough, now there are claims that Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman is having trouble with an unruly board member pushing for Steve Walsh to fill the director of football role at Old Trafford. Related: Manchester United’s ‘culture’ is overrated. Busby and Ferguson swam against the tide | Barney Ronay Related: Liverpool and City make X-rated fees normal in scary pursuit of perfection...
Reds were ahead of the curve with £75m Virgil van Dijk transfer but champions could trump that for Harry Maguire as a duopoly emerges in the Premier LeagueThere are weeks of the transfer window still to go, an opportunity to keep spending money stretching ahead of Premier League clubs like the seemingly endless summer holidays of schoolchild memory, yet it is already clear that the prices being quoted are not only adult but in some cases X-rated.It was said when Virgil van Dijk joined Liverpool for £75m that in a short space of time the fee would look a bargain, and that time has now arrived. If Manchester City succeed in persuading Harry Maguire to reject Manchester United’s overtures and...