It seems as though Manchester United have finally forced Daniel Levy to reveal his hand. Not only has their reported attempt to sign Yerry Mina from Barcelona got him all jittery, but it has made him throw all of his cards on the table. Very un-Levy like!
He is now admitting that he is prepared to sell Mousa Dembélé and Danny Rose as well as United target Toby Alderweireld. This will all be music to Mauricio Pochettino’s ears coming, as it does, just a week before the transfer window closes and leaving very little time, if any, to replace them.
Remember, those players can be sold in Europe right up until the end of August due to the Premier League having the only transfer window which shuts early.
So it would appear that Daniel Levy, as is almost always the case, has a hidden agenda. It isn’t hidden very well as we found it without even lifting a stone!
He is determined to recoup about £120-£150 million of what he has spent on the new stadium without further outlay. OK, if he has to spend £25 million on Jack Grealish to keep his manager happy then so be it, but he would much prefer Pochettino to make the most of what he already has.
The point he appears to miss whilst he is dreaming up more ways to resist spending anything, is that the fans may not be prepared to turn up to the new stadium if they do not have players they want to watch. If Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli are still the three star men this season then Spurs will be lucky to get anywhere near the capacity of 60,000 apart from when they play the other big six teams.
As usual Levy has it the wrong way round and is looking after the pounds while expecting the pennies to look after themselves.
Yerry Mina wants to go to United…..
The Colombian would prefer a move to United over Everton but it will probably depend on Spurs
Speaking of Manchester United, which we weren’t, it is reported that they are haggling over the transfer fee for Yerry Mina. Barcelona want £35 million and United are only prepared to pay £30 million. Whether or not there is any truth in this report is debatable but Woodward does have a history of fairly pathetic negotiations behind him.
He didn’t sign Ivan Perišić, allegedly, because he wouldn’t pay an extra £4 million yet, by missing a deadline, Marouane Fellaini cost £4 million more than he should have done. Which one would you rather have had for the extra money?
If United finally sign Toby Alderweireld it is a deal likely to cost around £60 million and he is 29 years old! He may be one of the best defenders in the Premier League but, at that age, is he really worth £25 million more than a 23 year-old who scored three goals in the World Cup for his country?
We know the world has gone mad, we accepted a few years ago that Ed Woodward was completely mad so we suppose we have to accept that logic no longer exists as well.
And finally…..
Pep Guardiola has admitted that he thought the Jorginho deal was done. Being the trusting soul that he is he obviously didn’t reckon on those conspiratorial rats at Napoli and Chelsea cheating him out of the deal by blackmailing the player concerned. He is also learning that the world has gone mad.
However, in good news for the “Bald One”, Gabriel Jesus has signed a new contract which may keep him at the club until 2023 when he may sign another one.
He has lots of potential and shows the occasional glimpse of what he needs to produce regularly but he is, at present, a little too inconsistent for City to even contemplate going into a season without Sergio Agüero as the main striker.
Gabriel Jesus – Is the first one to spot the ball after a Raheem Sterling shot
Having said all that, a team which can score 106 goals in a season, 22 more than Liverpool did with Salah, Mané and Firmino, doesn’t appear to have any problems in that area.
Retain the title? It should be a doddle!
Other than that, not much is happening, so we will bid you a fond farewell until tomorrow. Farewell, fondly.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 