Manchester United Rumours Archive February 04 2020

04 Feb 2020 17:27:02
A question for one of the Eds and posters.

Do you have any updates or news with Jesse Lingard. Is it true that he recently signed with Raiola as his agent?

{Ed002's Note - Sort of. Jesse Lingard (/RM/AM) knows that Manchester United see him as potentially being surplus to requirements at Old Trafford and that the current coach is not keen on him - so. not unreasonably. there is an ad hoc agreement with Mino that allows him to look for other options for the player. Right now I am aware there have been approaches to several sides and that a couple might be open to making a formal approach, but there remains a concern that as an English player there is a high risk if he were to move to mainland Europe - so the interest could easily wane. Interest in England I am told is thin on the ground although at least two sides have been approached. I suspect the summer and decisions yet to be agreed at the club will define whether he stays or goes.}

05 Feb 2020 08:58:32
Thanks as always for the wonderfully detailed inside info Ed002: very much appreciated.

Might I be cheeky and read between the lines regarding your comment about decisions yet to made and the impact on whether Lingard stays: might this allude to United changing managers in the summer please?

If so - and I appreciate this is very speculative - might you have any inside info about United’s thoughts about Solkjaer, changing him in the Summer and who might they have spoken to please?

Thanks again for any info you might impart.

{Ed002's Note - I have explained about Solkjaer before - nothing has changed.}

05 Feb 2020 09:52:34
No worries, thanks as always for your brilliant input to the site.

07 Feb 2020 21:01:58
In reply to ed002. As supporters we are not bright enough to realise Ed Woodward is not buying and selling players, neither is ogs. With no dof. Who is actually making the decisions to buy/ sell negotiate for Man Utd?

{Ed002's Note - Right - but why should yopu now sart attacking others you know nothing of?}

04 Feb 2020 08:49:17
Hi All, recently i was listening to a podcast from Duncan Castles where he said, Ole signed 20 odd players from his close friend and business partner Jim Solbakken while he was in charge of Molde and Cardiff, Ole also referred Lindegaard and Mame Biram Diouf to Sir ALex when he was our reserves manager (again same agent) .

Even in our January window he targeted King who has Jim as his agent and Ighalo who has a agent who is Norwegian and close associate of Jim.

Do yo think there is something fussy about all the dealings?

04 Feb 2020 08:56:58
Duncan castles is a fool and he talks nonsense.


nothing to do with that maybe the 2 players king and ighalo were the only ones available

harry, awb, james and bruno don't have that agent, just another poor journo trying to find something else to slate us for.

04 Feb 2020 09:33:02
So currently we have signed Maguire, AWB, James, Bruno and Ighalo on loan under Ole. The players we have been heavily linked to and we can probably all agree that there is at least some interest from the club in are Maddison, Sancho, Rice, Koulibaly, Kalvin Phillips and Dembele.

So 5 players signed, 6 players heavily linked and not one of them has Jim Solbakken as their agent.

Ighalo agent is Emefie Akeke Atta who is Nigerian but has worked closely with several Norwegian clubs and as such has many links with clubs, agents and managers who work or have worked in the Norwegian league.

With hours left of the transfer window the only realistic chance you have of getting a deal done is though a contact, someone you know and trust.

So I don't find it odd that the signing we made with only a few hours to go before the deadline had an agent who was an associate of our managers agent.

If you want to talk about inappropriate relationships between a manager and an agent that have a direct effect on club signings then you probably should have taken issue with Sir Alex often using his son's agency and even pressuring youth players at our club to sign for his son's agency.

This was at a time when Sir Alex pretty much had absolute power to run the club as he saw fit, and he often did make transfer related decisions based on the agent involved. i.e he refused to work with Raiola, but had a good relationship with Jorge Mendes and obviously his son.

Ole doesn't have anything link that sort of power to insist the club sign a player his agent represents. There is a structure and the manager is only a part of that and although he has the right to veto signings, he can't force the club to sign whoever he wants.

Think about where this was reported, on Duncan Castles own personal podcast. A media source where he earns more money the more people who download and listen to it. He knows United gets clicks, and he knows there is a concern amongst United supporters about how the club is run. So he tries ridiculously to suggest that Ole is abusing his position to help his agent earn money out of the club, despite the fact that currently the only deal his agent has made with the club is to install Ole as manager.

04 Feb 2020 19:06:48
Bolger2 - Duncan Castles is a fool and talks nonsense? Seriously? Probably the most reliable source of info with regards to United all window. Other than this site, he’s the only other journalist I take any notice of.