SANCHO SORTED... RASHFORD AND POGBA ARE OLE’S NEXT PROBLEMS
WELL, at least Jadon Sancho’s Old Trafford move was finally announced. It took so long they must have been chiselling his contract in stone.
But it is a significant piece of business from Manchester United in what should be yet another significant summer for them.
There are more matters on the table to tackle, for sure.
Not least of which are Marcus Rashford’s shoulder and Paul Pogba’s agent. Again.
And while the Raphael Varane pursuit is shaping up to be a typically drawn-out affair, there is still plenty of time to complete a deal.
If United get these issues sorted, they will be a serious force to be reckoned with.
But quite what is happening with Rashford’s physical issue is a mystery. You don’t need to wait this long for an operation on the NHS.
He has, apparently, been struggling with a shoulder problem since November. He spoke during the Euros of possibly needing an operation.
“We’re still addressing that with the experts,” said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the other day.
What? Nine months on? And with the season starting in three weeks’ time? Meanwhile, Rashford is on a deserved holiday.
“He went away just to reflect on it a little bit,” Solskjaer added. Which is fair enough.
But it seems unusual – no, highly unusual – for players to ‘reflect’ on whether they need an operation or not.
Normal procedure, surely, is for the finest medics Premier League money can buy to examine and recommend surgery or not.
By now, United and Solskjaer should know if Rashford needs to go under the knife.
Delaying the decision just seems plain odd. So what happens if Solskjaer’s and United’s “experts” decide Rashford needs an operation, but the player himself has had time to “reflect” and does not want one?
It is not as if he has been setting the game alight recently.
Don’t forget, this is a player who fell behind Bukayo Saka – a 19-year-old rookie – in the England pecking order.
If ‘shouldergate’ is a little strange, Pogba’s link with Paris Saint-Germain is not.
Mino Raiola seems to tout him to another club every summer. It is a perennial issue.
The difference this time around is that Pogba’s United deal has only a year left to run.
Apparently, he has turned down the offer of a new contract. In which case, it is time to be decisive.
Time for United to finally give up, time for them to cut and run. Or at least try to. Try and get a few quid for him, try and avoid the situation where he runs down his contract. Let’s face it, Pogba, 28, is not ending his career at Old Trafford.
He will, at some stage, seek a new challenge in Europe.
Fair play to him.
But if he is not signing an extension, Solskjaer has to sanction his sale and search for more quality reinforcements.
Pogba is good, but not indispensable and his agent’s sideshow has become tiresome.
Sancho (left) has signed, Varane might follow and there are other targets, although the idea of recruiting Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka seems a little fanciful.
Keeping Pogba and his agent sweet should not be top of Solskjaer’s priorities.
The deal for Sancho should be the first of a few… and if that new contract remains unsigned, selling Pogba should be the next one sorted.