Europa League talking points
struggled to adapt to life in Manchester — regularly returning to London when possible — and never fully assimilated into the core group at Carrington.
In his defence, the majority of his time as a first-team squad member coincided with Jose Mourinho’s downfall and were not United’s happiest in general, but some of the Chilean’s struggles were his own making and they reflected in his performances. He left for Inter last summer after five goals in 45 appearances.
Finally, the sorry chapter appears to be coming to a close. And as negotiations with the Serie A club over a permanent move for Sanchez advance, so do talks with Borussia Dortmund for Jadon Sancho.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was relaxed about United’s transfer business yesterday ahead of their return to Europa League action against LASK Linz, insisting that the window is long and there was no need to secure targets early, but there is confidence that United will strike a structured and incentivised deal which meets Dortmund’s €120m (£108m) asking price. Sancho could be a United player by this time next week.
If the right payment plan can be agreed, he will have eyes for Sanchez’s No.7 shirt. Sancho’s salary will not be modest — and likely to be in the region of £300,000-a-week — but nor will it break the wage structure already in place.
He is 20-years-old, not 29, and coming off the back of two extraordinarily productive Bundesliga campaigns with room to grow and develop, rather than arriving after a difficult six months at his previous club with further regression likely. He is a player for today and tomorrow, rather than just today.
Taking all that into consideration, you could say signing Sancho is a ‘no-brainer’, an opportunity far too good to turn down, and one to simply wave through just as with Sanchez before him.
That eerie similarity between the two deals is a reminder that there are no guarantees in football and fewer still in the transfer market.
But the many differences suggest that United are finally moving on from their greatest, most starry-eyed mistakes of the past and learning from them too.
WHILE the domestic season may be over, the football hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic means European competitions are still to be decided. The Europa League returns tonight with the second legs of the last-16 ties taking place ahead of a single-leg knockout tournament held in Germany — the final set for August 21 in Cologne. Here, we take a look at some of the key talking points with the competition resuming after a 146-day delay.
Thanks to a fine end to their season, the pressure of winning the Europa League to seal Champions League qualification has been lifted from Manchester United. Finishing third in the Premier League has taken care of that challenge, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (above) can turn his attention to winning his first piece of silverware as United boss. A 5-0 first-leg advantage over LASK going into tonight’s return tie at Old Trafford means he is likely to shuffle his pack extensively following a congested run of fixtures with the likes of Odion Ighalo and Andreas Pereira eyeing rare starts.
Wolves look to extend 13-month season
Nuno Espirito Santo’s (above) Wolves host Olympiakos having drawn the first leg 1-1 in Piraeus back in March. Remarkably, their season has been running since July 25, 2019 when they faced Crusaders in a qualifying tie to reach the Europa League group stages. Unlike United, they will need to win the competition outright to have any form of European football on their agenda for next season — their seventh-placed Premier League finish not enough to do the job following Arsenal’s FA Cup final success.
Gerrard needs another memorable European night
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard (above) enjoyed plenty of unforgettable moments in European competition during his time as a player at Liverpool. But now he needs to inspire his own charges to replicate some of that success as Rangers look to overcome a 3-1 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen when they travel to Germany tomorrow. With their 2020-21 Scottish Premiership campaign already under way following a 1-0 win at Aberdeen on Saturday, Gerrard will be hoping to have two seasons running concurrently by inspiring a rousing comeback at the Bayarena.
One-off wonders for Italian and Spanish duo
With the coronavirus already starting to affect football fixtures, two ties from the last-16 were unable to play either leg of their fixtures before Uefa called a halt to the competition almost five months ago. Inter Milan v Getafe and Sevilla v Roma will therefore be played over just one leg, in Gelsenkirchen and Duisberg respectively. If Wolves can get past Olympiakos, they will then face the winner of the Sevilla v Roma encounter, while either Rangers or Leverkusen will be awaiting Inter or Getafe.
No room for mistakes when competition moves to Germany
The remaining sides, including the likes of Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Copenhagen, will also be hoping to earn a spot in the mini-tournament style competition to crown the new Europa League champions. All the fixtures will take place behind closed doors across the four selected stadiums in Germany — the Rheinenergiestadion in Cologne, Duisburg’s Msv-arena, the Merkur Spiel-arena in Dusseldorf and Schalke’s Veltins-arena. With a single-match knockout format, teams will have to be at their best throughout to progress through to the final.