Solskjaer wants Cavani to stay
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he still hoped Edinson Cavani will decide to extend his stay at Manchester United beyond this season after the Uruguayan’s goal helped secure a 3-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday.
The 34-year-old Cavani is reportedly ready to continue his career in South America having failed to settle down in England.
His class remains clear though and Solskjaer insists the club are working hard to try and keep Cavani.
“We have had up front and honest meetings. There’s no secret, we want to keep him,” Solskjaer told reporters on Sunday.
Solskjaer said the unusual circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic have been difficult for Cavani who has not been able to have family and friends visit him in Manchester.
“He’s contemplating and thinking hard and long about what he wants to do, and I understand,” Solskjaer said after the match.
“He knows what I want, him at Old Trafford at the Stretford End scoring a diving header, there’s not a better feeling. So let’s wait and see.
“It has been a difficult year for everyone but for a new lad who does not speak English, not to feel the English culture to go and see people, have friends around, it’s in the back of your head if this is what you want.”
Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho rounded on Solskjaer after his counterpart accused Spurs forward Son Heung-Min of conning the referee in Sunday’s match.
South Korean Son went down clutching his face after being accidentally caught by the hand of Scott McTominay in the build-up to a Cavani goal that was controversially ruled out after a
VAR check in north London.
With Son in apparent agony on the ground, United’s Paul Pogba played in Cavani who thought he had given his side a 34th-minute lead, only for VAR to intervene and referee Chris Kavanagh ruling it out after checking a monitor.
“We shouldn’t be conned. I have to say, if my son stays down for three minutes and he needs his 10 mates to help him up, he won’t get any food,” Solskjaer said of the incident.
“We weren’t conned, the referee was.” Son gave Tottenham the lead shortly after Cavani’s disallowed goal, but United hit back strongly after the break with goals by Fred, Cavani and Mason Greenwood.
“First of all, let me tell you something. I’m very, very surprised that after the comments that Ole made on Sonny, you don’t ask me about it,” Mourinho said.
“If it’s me, telling that player A, B or C from another club, if it was my son I wouldn’t give him dinner tonight, what would be the reaction of that? It’s very, very sad.
“In relation to that, I just want to say that Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole. I am a father. I think as a father you have always to feed your kids.
“Doesn’t matter what they do. If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal. I’m very, very disappointed.”