In case they hadn’t made it clear enough already, Manchester United reportedly intend to double down on suggesting four unwanted players shouldn’t bother unpacking their bags back at Carrington this summer.
United fell to their worst league finish in 50 years last season, coming in at 15th place and losing the Europa League final to remove the considerable consolation prize of playing Champions League football next season.
Missing out on Europe will only have increased United’s need to move unwanted players out this summer to fund much-needed reinforcements for Ruben Amorim’s squad – and they appear to have a quartet of particularly bankable stars in mind.
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The Mirror write that Amorim is set to leave Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho at home rather than take them over to the United States of America for pre-season next month.
None of those names will come as a particular surprise, with three of them sent out on loan last season – two under Amorim’s watch – while the last ended the season in a rather public spat with the manager.
Rashford and Antony both departed on loan in the January transfer window, with the England international heading to Aston Villa while Antony went to Real Betis.
Both players shone at their temporary clubs in the second half of the season, but neither loan move has been parlayed into a permanent transfer…as yet
A move to Villa seems unlikely for Rashford with Unai Emery’s side needing to exercise caution over PSR, and while he has long been linked with a move to Barcelona, the Catalan club are said to have other priorities in the same position.
Real Betis are said to be keen to bring Antony in permanent after he registered five goals and two assists in 17 appearances in his half-season with them last term – but United’s rumoured £40m asking price is reportedly posing difficulties.
In principle, there was at least a chance that Amorim might be willing to take a second look at Jadon Sancho, who had an infamously fractious relationship with former Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag.
Sancho joined Chelsea on loan last summer, several months before Amorim arrived at the club.
But the England winger’s almost entirely anonymous season at Stamford Bridge has seemingly done little to convince Amorim that Sancho the answer to his problems any more than they were for Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea had the option to make Sancho’s move permanent, but turned it down. He’s been linked with Galatasaray, although that would be hugely ambitious of them.
Finally, there’s Garnacho, who made no secret of his frustration at being left on the bench for much of United’s Europa League final defeat to Tottenham, despite his side going behind just before half time.
Amorim subsequently made clear that Garnacho would not have a future at the club.
The 20-year-old Argentinian has been linked with numerous potential new homes, including Arsenal, Chelsea and Napoli.
