Are Manchester United ‘writing off’ £80m by selling Marcus Rashford? Are they balls. Plus, Ruben Amorim has a watch…
Always there when you call, always on time…
It’s hard to be positive about Manchester United after back-to-back Premier League defeats but it’s the Manchester Evening News’ job to be positive until it becomes clear that the fans have turned and then it’s their job to be negative.
Which is how we get here…
‘Manchester United start to see progress off the pitch under Ruben Amorim in Plzen’
In a week when they have made a complete arse of the Dan Ashworth situation (in at No.1 in our Ratcliffe cock-ups list), it feels unlikely that United are ‘starting to see progress off the pitch under Ruben Amorim’.
But then we’re not in Plzen like Samuel Luckhurst:
There is progress away from the matches under the new Manchester United head coach. Ruben Amorim’s press conference started 20 minutes earlier than scheduled at the Doosan Arena.
United were also bang on schedule for their 10.15am training session at Carrington on Wednesday morning.
So they’re still sh*t. But they are crucially now on time and sh*t. Glory be.
Unleash the beast
Elsewhere on the super-positive MEN:
‘Manchester United might be about to unleash another player perfect for Ruben Amorim’
‘Another’ is interesting. There’s hardly a long list.
As for ‘unleash’..even Toby Collyer’s best friend would struggle to use the word ‘unleash’ to describe a man (ish) who has played a grand total of 166 minutes for Manchester United.
Rash decision
The Daily Mail’s back-page exclusive that Manchester United are willing to sell Marcus Rashford for just £40m is a genuine coup; we liked the story so much that we wrote our own version. Because page views. Because revenues.
What we didn’t do is…
Man Utd face writing off eye-watering amount as Marcus Rashford transfer reality accepted
You can’t ‘write off eye-watering amount’ on a player who came through the Academy. It’s pure profit. You might have heard of it.
And yet the Mirror are gleefully claiming that the club are about to ‘write off’ a load of money that doesn’t actually exist. Because nothing sells quite like Manchester United incompetence.
‘The Daily Mail reports that United would listen to offers in the region of £40m for the 27-year-old. That is a huge drop off from the £100m they believe he was worth in the summer of 2023 after the best campaign of his career.’
It is a ‘huge drop-off’ but that money never existed; nobody gave them £100m for Rashford; nobody offered them £100m for Rashford.
They are not ‘writing off’ £60m on Rashford; if they receive £40m for him then they are receiving £40m of pure profit and also losing his mammoth salary off the wage bill.
If they sell Jadon Sancho for £25m this summer then they absolutely are writing off an eye-watering amount and Chelsea have got themselves a bargain. If they sell Antony for any amount at all then the sums will make your eyes, mouth and bum water.
But Tottenham did not ‘write off (an) eye-watering amount’ for Harry Kane because they sold him to Bayern Munich for less than what he was worth two years before. Or did they? Ask the Mirror and their curious grasp of maths.
MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd asking price for Rashford revealed as Amorim ‘wants to release three players’
👉 Man Utd: New ‘reason’ INEOS appointed Amorim revealed; most ‘obvious’ sale ‘candidate’ identified
👉 Ratcliffe nothing but a ‘useful idiot’ at Man Utd as Glazers laugh
Salty bae
Over at the Mirror‘s label-mates:
Transfer news LIVE: Man Utd rub salt in Rashford’s wounds as Chelsea deal ‘moving quickly’
The Express are claiming that the £40m price tag means ‘Manchester United have knocked two-thirds off Marcus Rashford’s asking price as they bid to offload the misfiring forward’, because they have found one Daily Star article in which his value was pegged at £120m.
This is described as ‘rubbing salt in Rashford’s wounds’. They do know he doesn’t get the money, right?
If he wants to leave Manchester United, a lower price tag means he has more chance of making that move. And if he doesn’t want to leave Manchester United, it makes f*** all difference.
Oh and the ‘Chelsea deal ‘moving quickly’’ is of course Cesare Casadei to Monza. And we have all been desperate for that news…
Turn a different corner…
Over at MailOnline, they have moved on from their Marcus Rashford exclusive and are bringing us the big news:
Revealed: The new tactic Monaco used to nullify Arsenal’s corners which could end the Gunners’ hot streak in the Premier League
Apparently, ‘Monaco successfully deployed a new tactic on Wednesday night that may have shown Arsenal’s rivals the way to deal with their corners in the Premier League’.
Arsenal DID win 3-0 so it feels like something of a moot point, but we are led to believe that ‘their inability to find the net from a corner may have been down to Monaco’s approach as the French club tried something different for Arsenal’s set-pieces’.
Or, and this seems important, it might be down to them only winning three corners. Having scored once from six v Fulham and twice from 13 corners v Manchester United, failing from three attempts v Monaco feels about par for the course.
But no, all hail the Monaco genius who stopped them scoring from corners in a 3-0 defeat. Give that man a pay-rise.
