Manchester City academy graduate Liam Delap is among three strikers Manchester United are keeping tabs on as Ruben Amorim also wants to sign competition for Kobbie Mainoo in midfield.

Delap left City for Ipswich in the summer for £15m and has impressed in his debut season after a loan spell with Hull last term.

He already has six Premier League goals for Kieran McKenna’s side and David Ornstein of The Athletic has confirmed that the Red Devils have ‘noted’ his excellent start to the campaign with ‘another centre-forward expected to be on the agenda’ when Sir Jim Ratcliffe opens the chequebook for Ruben Amorim.

They will though likely face competition for Delap, with Chelsea also said to be among his admirers, while City could also scupper a move as they put matching rights or buyback clauses in most sales.

It’s not clear from the report when United will be able to enter the market amid claims from elsewhere that the Portuguese boss will have to make do with what he has for now in a bid to stay within the bounds of profit and sustainability regulations, but Ornstein claims two other strikers on their radar.

The report states:

‘Gyokeres will inevitably come up in discussions given his importance in Amorim’s system at Sporting and long-standing interest in Benjamin Sesko, who United tried to sign at the start of last summer, remains. United have also noted Liam Delap’s impact in the Premier League at Ipswich.’

The switch to 3-4-3 also means Amorim is keen to add wing-backs to his squad, with Antony – who started on the right in the 3-2 win over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday – ‘likely set for the exit unless he sparks a turnaround’.

The report adds:

‘There are several possibilities in the wing-back role, but Quenda’semergence this season makes him a very attractive proposition, aged just 17. United may decide to go for a more established player, however, and have been keeping track of Jeremie Frimpong at Bayer Leverkusen for several seasons.’

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United tried to offload Casemiro in the summer ‘and are likely to explore interest again’ amid an attempt to strengthen links in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, where they believe they can palm off some of their surplus stars to trim their bulging wage bill.

Joshua Zirkzee – who only joined United in the summer from Bologna – is another player they may consider offers for, depending how he performs under Amorim, particularly as they’re in the market for another striker.

There’s a belief they may be able to get all of their money back on the Netherlands international having paid a modest £36.5m to the Serie A side thanks to his release clause.

Mainoo is yet to make an appearance under Amorim as he works his way back from injury, and while most assume he’s set to play a key role in the new era at Old Trafford, as the report claims, it looks likely he will have competition as ‘United are also likely to want to add a mobile creative player to operate in one of the deeper midfield roles.’

Think you know your Premier League keepers? No Alissons, Schmeichels, Cechs or Seamans among this barely-recognisable bunch…

We’ve given you one custodian from each Premier League club, all of whom have gone in nets in the top flight.

How many can you identify? You need full marks to beat Matt Stead…

If you enjoyed that and need more reasons to run down the clock to the weekend, we’ve got plenty more quizzes here. And our friends at Planet Football have even more.

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Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has told reporters that his players “cannot concentrate on a video for more than 12 minutes” in a worrying update.

The Red Devils have made a terrible start to the new Premier League season with just four wins in their first 12 matches.

Erik ten Hag was sacked just nine games into the new campaign with Ruud van Nistelrooy taking over for a few matches before Amorim’s appointment earlier this month.

Amorim started life as the new Man Utd head coach with a 1-1 draw away at Ipswich Town on Sunday before his side came from 2-1 down to beat Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in a Europa League group stage clash on Thursday.

There have been concerns that Amorim’s attempts to deploy his 3-4-3 formation could be tricky without some of his own players and, with the busy festive period coming up, three matches a week are a regular occurrence, leading to fewer opportunities to problem solve on the training pitch.

And now Daily Mail journalist David Wheeler has revealed a slightly worrying update, although he claims Amorim was “joking”, with the Man Utd boss admitting that his side “cannot concentrate on a video for more than 12 minutes”.

Wheeler wrote on X: “Ruben Amorim has revealed that he is literally walking Manchester United’s players through training drills to try and speed up their learning of his football philosophy – joking that they cannot concentrate on a video for more than 12 minutes #mufc.”

Man Utd spent over £180m on five new players in the summer transfer window with Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui moving to Old Trafford.

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Not many have been successes to date, with Mazraoui being the main hit, and former Scotland international Craig Burley doubts De Ligt will be in Amorim’s side long term as he “can’t run”.

Burley said on ESPN: “What do we know? We know that De Ligt can’t run, he’s not the quickest. Those balls over the top of the left side, the centre-back gets caught out, then he struggles to get across and help because of his mobility.”

Former Man Utd striker Louis Saha has been impressed by Amorim’s “communication” skills so far and the “humility” that he has shown.

Saha told Slotswise: “The thing I have been most impressed with Amorim so far is his communication. I love the way he speaks about football and Manchester United. What he has said so far has shown humility, but also the confidence that is required to be a top manager.

“He is definitely someone who understands that some players need freedom to express themselves, while others need to be rigid and solid.

“We have so far seen some little signs of patterns that I really like, but the main thing we need is that consistency. We need Amorim to have the conviction to say we will play one system and give it time for the players to learn and master this and get it right, which is where I think ten Hag failed.”

Serie A giants Juventus are prepared to offer former Premier League duo Douglas Luiz and Danilo to Man Utd for Joshua Zirkzee in January, according to reports.

The Red Devils have made a terrible start to the new Premier League season with Erik ten Hag losing his job after winning just three of the opening nine matches.

New manager Ruben Amorim took his first training session at Man Utd less than a fortnight ago after interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy added four points to their total during his two games in charge.

Amorim drew his first match in charge 1-1 against Ipswich Town on Sunday with Marcus Rashford’s opener cancelled out by a deflected long-range effort from Omari Hutchinson.

Man Utd are now 12th in the Premier League table with only Everton, Crystal Palace and Southampton scoring fewer goals than the Red Devils so far this season.

Rashford now has two Premier League goals this term, while Rasmus Hojlund and Zirkzee both have one each, with the latter coming in for a lot of criticism after his summer move from Bologna.

There have already been reports that INEOS and some of the Man Utd board view Zirkzee as a ‘lost cause’ with the Red Devils looking to ship him out in January.

The Netherlands international has been linked with a number of Serie A clubs, including Juventus, and now the Old Lady are reportedly set to ramp up their interest in January.

Italian website Calciomercato claims that talks between Juventus and Man Utd ‘could be started to bring’ to take Zirkzee to Turin with ex-Man City defender Danilo and former Aston Villa midfielder Luiz possible makeweights in a deal.

It is said Juventus’ transfer priority with Danilo ‘may not be so much a financial gain from his transfer as saving on his salary’ and a potential transfer for Luiz is also ‘a utopia’ currently.

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The report adds that a loan deal away from Juventus ‘maybe back in the Premier League and maybe in exchange’ for Zirkzee could be on the cards for the Brazilian duo.

Amorim, who won his second match as Man Utd boss by coming back from 2-1 down to beat Bodo/Glimt 3-2 in the Europa League group stage on Thursday, held a pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the Red Devils’ match at Old Trafford against Everton.

When asked about Mason Mount, Amorim told reporters: “He is working really hard. You have to understand the human also. He wants this really bad. That is the most important thing. He proved to all of you he is a talented player.

“He was a European champion. We believe a lot in him. He has to stay fit. All the guys in the team are quality players. They had to improve. He did a great job. You see some moments details where you can see Mason Mount is a proper footballer. We believe a lot in him. I especially believe a lot in Mason Mount.”

Amorim was then asked what he expects against Everton, to which he responded: “Win. I am hoping to win. It is going to be a different match with a lot of fighting, long balls, second balls.

“A quality coach who understands the league and the moment of the opponents. We need to have the ball because we have a short time to recover and we need to rotate the team. I hope for a win and see different things in my team, improve like we did from Ipswich to now, with Everton, without training. I expect to see different things.”

Future Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy is coming over here and taking our jobs, while it is so difficult not to see Arne Slot as the next Bob Paisley.

Amor the merrier
‘Ruben Amorim breaks Man Utd’s 33-year duck in just 48 SECONDS during Bodo/Glimt clash’ – The Sun website.

When the Man Utd ‘duck’ Ruben Amorim has broken is to score ‘in the opening minute of a major European game’, it doesn’t half dilute the use of block capitals about it taking ‘just [x amount of] SECONDS’. If anything, they left it pretty late.

Man I’m just living my life, there’s nothing crazy about me
The same outlet carries this headline:

‘Amorim’s bonkers tactic pays off as Man Utd see out win over Bodo/Glimt’

And while playing without a recognised centre-half for about half an hour is some shade of noteworthy, Casemiro and Luke Shaw have both been used there before so even if Amorim is a foreign who likes woke nonsense such as tactics, ‘bonkers’ seems a bit off.

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In Ruud health
Three things get Neil Custis’ back up: 1) Louis van Gaal, 2) airports and 3) awards ceremonies.

He only touches briefly upon one of those things in his Sun column on Friday, on Leicester’s impending appointment of Ruud van Nistelrooy which ‘must have lower-league bosses fuming’.

Feels like they might be a little too busy focusing on their own stuff instead of stopping to care what a temporary Premier League club is doing with their managerial situation but sure, run with it:

‘RUUD VAN NISTELROOY walking into the Leicester job must have managers further down the leagues tearing their hair out.

‘This week at the Northwest Football Awards, for example, Dave Challinor of Stockport was named manager of the year ahead of Pep Guardiola.

‘Now that may be because organisers felt he would probably turn up to get his gong, unlike Guardiola.

‘Still, two promotions in 2½ years to lift the area’s poor relation from the National League to League One – where they sit fourth – is incredible.

‘Yet that and a managerial background at Colwyn Bay, AFC Fylde and Hartlepool would sadly never put him on a Premier League club’s radar.

‘It never does.’

And it never should. Challinor has done some exceptional work but this is his first season as a manager in a division as high as League One and he has coached about three times as many games in the National League as he has the Football League.

How weird that even just a year of managing PSV in the Eredivisie and European competition is more relevant when it comes to taking charge of a Premier League team than exclusively managing in the lower leagues.

And hell, Challinor might well have been on Leicester’s ‘radar’ but when targeting Steve Cooper’s replacement they have been specific in wanting to appoint a free agent. Would Challinor have even left something successful behind at Stockport to take a Leicester job he might have been removed from after a few bad results? Does Custis care? Has he ever heard of Nathan Jones? Does he miss him as much as we do?

But this is about Van Nistelrooy and his unjustified promotion to a permanent Premier League post:

‘If all the paperwork is done, his first  game as Foxes gaffer could be at Brentford on Saturday.

‘Meanwhile, Challinor, 49, is set to host Brackley in the FA Cup.

‘It seems if he wants to manage in the top flight, he will have to get there with Stockport.’

Or manage in a division slightly higher than England’s third tier for more than about a third of a season. Just a thought.

Will Challinor really be ‘fuming’ and ‘tearing his hair out’ because a job he probably didn’t want and definitely didn’t apply for has gone to someone else? Would Custis take the time to pretend to care if the situation didn’t involve a former Manchester United player and an opportunity to reference a tired Sir Alex Ferguson anecdote?

Cars boot
This was some enjoyable Custis too:

‘At a time when image is everything, however, the Dutchman comes across very well.

‘Just look at how Lee Carsley was dismissed as a potential England boss because of how he handled the media glare.’

Think it was more the home defeat to Greece in which he used an awful midfield setup because it looked decent after 20 minutes of training, but yeah.

It Pais to be happy
Fair play to Oliver Brown, who writes in his Daily Telegraph column that ‘just five months into the sunlit reign of Arne Slot, there is a temptation to perceive the Dutchman as the Paisley to Jurgen Klopp’s Shankly,’ while simultaneously avoiding the temptation to write something useful, positive and meaningful about his most beloved subject: women’s sport.

And hey, almost everyone else bar Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett and a couple of other randoms have avoided the apparently irresistible temptation to compare Slot’s 19-game reign with Paisley’s nine-year one, but here we are.

There are similarities, in the sense that both were more reserved successors to worshipped, celebrated managers who delivered immense periods of success. And as Brown points out, both won their first meetings with Manchester United, which essentially makes them twins.

But again, Paisley literally won more trophies as Liverpool manager than Slot has managed Liverpool games so far. It is a ludicrous comparison.

Real deal
Brown embarks on a tangent which takes him over to Liverpool’s vanquishing of Real Madrid.

‘The significance of the result against Real is impossible to overstate, with the team Klopp failed to beat in six tries brought to heel at the first time of asking.’

It might be ‘impossible to overstate’ but you’ve given it a fine crack. It was an excellent result but not nearly as impressive as many would like to pretend.

‘To summon a mental image of Klopp is to picture a whirlwind of teeth and fist-pumps and splenetic outbursts about having to kick-off at 12.30pm on a Saturday. Slot has eschewed such amateur dramatics or rows with officialdom, making a point after the Real win of shaking the referee’s hand.’

Mediawatch admittedly cannot immediately cite one specific example from memory, but pretty sure Klopp might have shook a referee’s hand after a 2-0 win at least once, whether or not he was ‘making a point’ in doing so.