Good evening, Manchester United fans. Here are the evening headlines on Friday 31 June.
Voices of Jimenez out of the sign
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Raul Jimenez has been linked with a transfer to Manchester United in the Portuguese broadcaster RTP, but MAN Sport understands that the Mexican is not taken into account by the reds.
Jimenez, who joined the Benfica Wolves permanently last summer after a successful spell on loan, was seen by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in January when an injury to Marcus Rashford left United looking light.
However, the recovery of the English striker, combined with the arrival on loan of Odion Ighalo, means that the Red Devils are no longer targets a number nine.
United will be active on the market this summer but one wing, namely Jadon Sancho, is their main priority while there is also interest in Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish.
New signatures undertake the first training session in Carrington
While Manchester United has not yet completed senior purchases this summer, a number of young talent have joined the Academy team.
Joe Hugill, Logan Pye and Radek Vitek have arrived and the trio was in Carrington today (Friday) for their first training session as United players.
Young people are expected to train all together next week, having started with small group sessions after undergoing coronavirus tests.
Hugill and Pye both signed from the Sunderland academy while goalkeeper Vitek was previously at Sigma Olomouc in the Czech Republic.
MEN Sport understands that United is still awaiting international authorization for three more arrivals at the academy, the Spanish duo Marc Jurado and Alvaro Fernandez and the Norwegian talent Isak Hansen-Aaroen.
Teens are expected to join respectively from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Tromso.
Senior players can be rested in the Europa League
Manchester United are in a better position than many of their rivals in the Europa League when the competition resumes, with a 5-0 lead over the first leg of LASK in the last 16 clashes.
This means that the Premier League club should have the luxury of bringing their first players back into action when the competition resumes in August.
And Solskjaer is meant to be considering resting several key players amid worries about exaggerating.
United showed signs of fatigue at the end of the Premier League season after a busy schedule, and the return leg against LASK could offer the opportunity to remember many of the Academy’s talents in the group stages.
Tahith Chong and James Garner were among the young men who played in the opening games, and Solskjaer could have exploited his entire team in Europe.
If United managed to get through the LASK game on 11 August, they would have had five days to recover before facing FC Copenhagen or Istanbul Basaksehirspor in a quarter-final in Frankfurt.
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