Browsing: Utd

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes says he will not discuss his future with anyone until after next year’s World Cup.

The 31-year-old will make his 300th appearance for United on Saturday, as the club attempt to end a run of three successive home defeats by Brighton.

It is an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that Fernandes has missed just 17 games since his £47m move from Sporting in January 2020 – and only three of those were because of injury or illness.

The Portuguese rejected a huge offer from Al-Hilal in the summer, then dismissed subsequent interest elsewhere from the Saudi Pro League and Europe.

Fernandes knows the rumours about his future won’t go away.

Sources close to him have previously told BBC Sport he has no wish to move to Saudi Arabia next summer either, with major European clubs outside the Premier League holding more interest.

It is understood Fernandes’ contract – which expires in 2027 with the option of an additional year – includes a clause that would allow him to join a club outside England for £56.68m (€65m) provided it is triggered early enough.

However, Fernandes is not interested in talking about it just yet.

“As I’ve always said, I feel good here. I want to achieve my dreams still,” he said.

“I can’t talk for the club. I’ve seen a lot of people talking that I had an agreement to go already next season. If the club has done that agreement, it wasn’t made with me. I haven’t spoken with anyone.

“My agent also knows how I work. If he wants to talk to me, it will be after the World Cup. Until then, I won’t speak to anyone.”

Fernandes spoke to a lot of people when Al-Hilal’s interest first became public during United’s post-season trip to Asia.

Conversations with chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox, plus head coach Ruben Amorim, Portugal team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo – who plays in Saudi Arabia – and his family all took place independently.

Everyone accepted the money being talked about, even for one of the Premier League’s highest earners, was eye-watering. The fee, expected to be in excess of £100m, would have been a club record sale.

But no-one was pushing Fernandes out. In fact, Amorim was saying quite the opposite.

“He said to me ‘No, we want more players to help you to become a better team. If we bring some people and lose you, we’re still going to lose something’,” Fernandes said of his manager.

His wife Ana was blunt.

“My family feels very well here,” Fernandes said. “My kids love to go to school. They love the way they live here, even with the weather.

“Everyone is settled. We say sometimes the house we have here, it feels more like home than the one we have in Portugal.

“The first thing she said was: ‘Have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve at the club?’ She knows I haven’t.

“When I talk about not fulfilling my dreams at the club, it comes a lot from what she said to me.”

Source link

Though they may not quite be the all-conquering force they once were, there is still a sense of honor that comes with being a Manchester United player, coupled with an intense pressure to meet the high standards demanded by fans.

While certain players flourish in those conditions, many have wilted under the stresses, fallen out of favor or simply been unable to muscle into the starting XI only to find themselves occupying the sub’s bench week in, week out.

However, while some have seen their careers come to an abrupt standstill at United, there is a noted phenomenon in football circles known as the “post-United bounce,” where a number of players have successfully escaped their Old Trafford purgatory and almost immediately rediscovered their form elsewhere.

While the grass isn’t always necessarily greener, this season alone we’ve seen the likes of Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Højlund and André Onana join the ranks of players who have departed the Premier League giants at a low ebb before enjoying an instant upturn in fortunes after a fresh start.

Those three aren’t the only big names to benefit from the post-United bounce either, with an ever-lengthening list of players experiencing a similar turnaround in the relatively fallow seasons that have elapsed since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager.

– Every time Man United’s Ruben Amorim has talked about his job
– Man United fan grows hair for a year due to Amorim’s team’s results
– Dawson: Sunderland win eases Amorim pressure, but for how long?

2025-26

Marcus Rashford

Patchy form and a dip in morale saw Rashford made available for loan by his boyhood club at the start of the year, with Aston Villa first taking the plunge for the second half of last term before Barcelona weighed in by taking the England forward on a seasonlong deal in the summer.

The 27-year-old already looks like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and the swagger is visibly returning. He has made a decent start to life in Catalonia, with three goals and four assists in his first 10 games for Barça, including an impressive two-goal salvo against Newcastle United in the Champions League which earned him a standing ovation from the home faithful.

play

1:03

Amorim: The pressure of playing for Man Utd was difficult for Onana

Ruben Amorim talks about the pressure of playing for Manchester United following confirmation of Andre Onana’s loan move to Trabzonspor.

André Onana

A figure of derision under Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, goalkeeper Onana was responsible for a string of handling and positioning errors in big games that eventually saw him lose his first-choice designation before ultimately being allowed to leave the club.

The Cameroon international signed for Trabzonspor on loan for the 2025-26 campaign and kicked things off by being named the man of the match on debut for the Turkish club despite them falling to a 1-0 loss. He then upped the ante by registering an assist in his second outing by laying on the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Gaziantep FK.

Rasmus Højlund

A dearth of goals last season saw Højlund left out of the United squad altogether at the start of the 2025-26 campaign until Napoli came to his rescue in September with the offer of a return to Italy.

After mustering four Premier League goals last season, the 22-year-old Denmark striker took just 14 minutes to score his first for the Partenopei and has now produced four goals in his first six games for the club, including a brace in a 2-1 Champions League victory over Sporting CP and the winner against Genoa just before the October international break.

2024-25

Scott McTominay

McTominay sealed a surprise move to Napoli in the summer of 2024 after finding his game time limited under Ten Hag the previous season.

The Scotland midfielder then proceeded to win the Serie A title and be crowned the league MVP in his debut season in Italy while becoming a cult hero among Napoli fans by virtue of his tireless work rate, intense physical play, and of course his knack of scoring important goals in clutch situations.

play

2:11

Why Antony felt disrespected at Manchester United

Real Betis winger Antony reflects on the end of his tough time at Manchester United.

Antony

Signed by Ten Hag from former club Ajax in an £82 million deal that made him United’s third-most expensive player of all time, Antony unfortunately misfired in England and quickly became a target for derision after routinely failing to make any impact in games while desperately running through his repertoire of superfluous skills.

After two largely unproductive seasons at Old Trafford, the Brazil winger joined Real Betis on loan for the latter half of the 2024-25 season and was immediately reborn, with nine goals in 26 games and a nomination for the LaLiga player of the month award after just a few weeks in Spain, and he has now moved to Seville on a permanent basis.

2023-24

Dean Henderson

A product of the United academy, Henderson was on the books at his boyhood club between 2015 and 2023 but managed just 13 games in all competitions. Following a succession of loans up and down the Football League, the goalkeeper signed for Crystal Palace on a permanent deal in August 2023 before going on to win the FA Cup and make his England senior debut during his second season at Selhurst Park.

David De Gea

The second goalkeeper to leave United in 2023-24, former stalwart De Gea saw his 12-year stint come to an underwhelming end when his contract was allowed to expire and he was released without much in the way of fanfare. The former Spain No. 1 then remained a free agent for the entire campaign before ending his extended sabbatical by joining Fiorentina in August 2024. With penalties saved and clean sheets kept, the 34-year-old then played an important role in helping La Viola qualify for Europe (via the Conference League) in his maiden season.

2019-20 and 2020-21

The Inter Milan Exodus

Thanks to a tricky regime change at United, a sizeable number of high-earning and/or underperforming players were cleared out to make room for fresh blood in the squad.

This considerable exodus saw a number of players join Inter Milan just in time to fuel the Nerazzurri’s charge to the 2020-21 Serie A title with a good number of said players still in situ when they won the Italian top flight again in 2023-24.

Indeed, Romelu Lukaku (2020-21), Ashley Young (2020-21), Alexis Sánchez (2020-21, 2023-24), Matteo Darmian (2021-22, 2023-24) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (2023-24) all claimed major honors with Inter after leaving Old Trafford, and also played in Champions League and Europa League finals for the club too.

After having his ability to lead the line for United repeatedly brought into question, Lukaku was voted Serie A MVP in 2020-21 and finished second behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the scoring charts. Lukaku then won his second Italian league title at Napoli last season.

All of ESPN. All in one place.

Watch your favorite events in the newly enhanced ESPN App. Learn more about what plan is right for you. Sign Up Now

Chris Smalling

Smalling also left United for Italy around that time, initially on loan to Roma for the 2019-20 season before the deal was made permanent the following summer.

The center back was an instant success at the Giallorossi and even emerged as a European champion when they won the Conference League in 2021-22 under José Mourinho’s guidance. Smalling was voted man of the match in that final against Feyenoord and was included in the UEFA team of the tournament — a feat he then repeated the following year when Roma finished runners-up in the Europa League.

2018-19

Daley Blind

A fairly reliable and versatile defensive option for United, Blind enjoyed success during his four years at Old Trafford by winning an FA Cup in 2015-16 and then the Carabao Cup and Europa League in 2016-17.

However, despite being seen as something of a fading force on his United exit, the Netherlands international kicked on by returning to boyhood club Ajax to claim three more Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups before spending a single season with Bayern Munich and lifting the Bundesliga shield in 2022-23. The 35-year-old veteran is still going too, and is currently in his third season with Spanish side Girona.

2016-17

Memphis Depay

It’s fair to say that Depay failed to fully ignite at United under Louis van Gaal, with an underwhelming 18-month spell at Old Trafford coming to an end in January 2017 when he signed for Lyon in a permanent deal.

Still only 22 at the time, the Dutch forward’s career soon began to gather momentum and he technically won LaLiga with Barcelona in 2022-23 (though left the club halfway through the season after making just four appearances) to join Atlético Madrid. However, Depay has been a bona fide league winner in recent months, taking the Brazilian Serie A title with Corinthians in 2025.

2015-16

Ãngel Di María

With stints at Benfica and Real Madrid already under his belt, Di María was recognized as one of the most skillful playmaking wingers in the world when he signed for United in August 2014 in a huge deal worth almost £60 million — the highest transfer fee ever paid by a British club at the time.

Unfortunately despite early promise, a failure to settle in England, untimely injuries and a dramatic oscillation in form saw Di María regularly squeezed out of the first team under Van Gaal and it all came to an end after 12 months when Paris Saint-Germain offered to rectify the situation in the summer of 2025. The nimble Argentina star duly went on to win a domestic quadruple in his debut season before adding a further 15 major honors to his collection during the seven years he spent in Paris — also winning the FIFA World Cup and two Copa Américas with Argentina.

At the grand old age of 37, Di María is still playing in Argentina with his boyhood club, Rosario Central.

2014-15

Wilfried Zaha

Something of a poster boy for the false start of the post-Alex Ferguson era at United, Crystal Palace star Zaha was actually signed by Fergie in January 2013 but had his move delayed until the following summer, by which time the legendary Scot had retired and been replaced at the helm by protégé David Moyes.

Zaha made just two appearances under Moyes, who sent the young winger out on loan to Cardiff City for the second half of the 2013-14 campaign. Without making a single league start for United, the 22-year-old then returned to Palace in 2014-15, initially on a season-long loan and soon found his ridiculously quick feet again, immediately re-establishing his “fan favourite” status at Selhurst Park while subsequently hitting the best form of his career in the Premier League, carrying the Eagles for several seasons and winning the club player of the year award in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Source link

Manchester United coach Marc Skinner was quick to shut down an obvious line of questioning around his match-winner Maya Le Tissier after the club’s Champions League debut.

“Your next question is probably ‘should she start for England’,” he said. “I am not here to answer that.”

Despite becoming one of the most consistent defenders in the Women’s Super League, making a record 71st consecutive appearance in last week’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, central defensive anchor Le Tissier has had limited exposure at international level.

Marshalled by Le Tissier, United had the WSL’s second-best defence last season, conceding just 16 goals in 22 games.

The United captain was rewarded with a place in Sarina Wiegman’s Euro 2025 squad, but did not play a single minute in Switzerland as the Lionesses retained their European title.

Eight caps since her first call-up in November 2022 is scant reward for a player of her ability. In the WSL this season, Le Tissier tops the rankings for most clearances (34) and most touches (444).

Wiegman has said she prefers Le Tissier at right-back, despite her playing at centre-back for United.

But injuries to England captain and centre-back Leah Williamson, plus right-back Lucy Bronze, must give Le Tissier a chance of playing when Weigman’s side take on Brazil and Australia later this month, with the Dutchwoman naming her squad next week.

Skinner was not keen to get involved in the debate but he was happy to extol the virtues of the 23-year-old, who kept her nerve to convert the first-half penalty that secured victory over Norwegian side Valerenga in Leigh in their league phase opener.

“She is [at the top of her game] and has been for a long time,” he said.

“I start her for a reason. She is an incredible footballer and a driven personality. When she gets her opportunity, she will be an incredible England stalwart and someone who will give the country pride.

“She is a fantastic player. I won’t answer the other question.”

Source link

Reaction to Manchester United’s 4-0 hammering at Brentford on 13 August 2022 was predictably fierce.

BBC pundit Chris Sutton talked of United hitting “rock bottom”. On Sky Sports, Karen Carney said United “can’t get any lower”. Former skipper Gary Neville said his old club was “rotten”.

Sutton and Carney were wrong.

From that mauling at the Gtech Community Stadium to the end of last season, United spent over half a billion pounds on new players. They ended the 2024-25 campaign in 15th spot, their worst finish since relegation in 1973-74.

There have been good days in the intervening years. United won the EFL Cup, FA Cup and qualified for the Champions League. But there has been embarrassment, too.

They conceded six in losing at Manchester City in 2022 and suffered a record 7-0 hiding at Liverpool in March 2023.

They were beaten 4-0 at Crystal Palace in May 2024 and it took late goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo to give the scoreline a respectable look when they were beaten 4-3 on their last visit to Brentford in May.

This summer, United spent another £219.6m on four more players. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens had not arrived by that point but Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo – who was one of Brentford’s scorers in 2022 – and Benjamin Sesko were all involved when their club was beaten at League Two Grimsby in the EFL Cup in August.

It was the first time United had ever lost to a fourth-tier side.

Far from hitting rock bottom when they were beaten at Brentford three years ago, it was just another heavy thud on a long descent from their glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson.

This weekend, United go back to west London trying to take baby steps on the path back to something like what they once were.

Victory would represent the first time they have won successive league games under Ruben Amorim, and the first time they have done it at all since they followed up a 2-0 success at Brighton on the final day of the 2023-24 campaign by opening last season with a late 1-0 win over Fulham.

It is a staggering statistic, both for United and Amorim, who took former club Sporting on a 12-match winning streak in the autumn of 2021 and had emerged victorious in 16 out of 17 games – with one draw – immediately before moving to England.

Little wonder he is not looking too far ahead.

“It’s really hard but I also understand it’s a different club, with different pressures in a completely different league,” he said.

“That feeling of winning and for it to be really normal to win, I struggle [with] a lot.

“It’s in our hands to change things. We just need to win the next one and to do everything to win the next one [after that].”

Source link

Wayne Rooneyâ€s glittering spell at Manchester United produced five Premier League titles, a Champions League crown and a haul of unforgettable goals.

But according to the clubâ€s record scorer, the secret ingredient behind Sir Alex Fergusonâ€s dominant side wasnâ€t tactics or training – it was playing on the PlayStation.

Speaking on his BBC podcast The Wayne Rooney Show, the 38-year-old revealed that much of the teamâ€s bond was forged not on the pitch, but on the road. The players regularly played SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs on the PlayStation Portable, turning long journeys into fierce five-versus-five battles.

“I really believe a big part of our success was playing on the PSP,” Rooney said. “It got us communicating more.

“We used to play it on the plane, on the team bus,” he explained. “It would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John Oâ€Shea, Wes Brown. You have to talk, you have to tactically be right, go and revive people when they get killed, and it was a massive part of our success. Ask any of those players – it was brilliant.”

Rooney added that his teammates†styles in the game often mirrored their personalities on the pitch.

“Michael Carrick was a little sneaky, calm one. Youâ€d be lying down hiding and suddenly hear a grenade bounce nearby – heâ€d thrown it,” he said. “I was just all in, frontline of the trenches, straight in there.”

So while Fergusonâ€s legendary leadership and the squadâ€s quality remain undisputed, Rooney insists that SOCOM and the PlayStation may just have played an underrated role in creating one of footballâ€s most dominant dynasties.

Who’d have thought?

Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick helped United win tonnes. / Michael Regan/GettyImages

READ THE LATEST FASHION, CULTURE AND LIFESTYLE CONTENT FROM 90MIN

Source link

Watch Manchester United vs Chelsea today as two old Premier League rivals go head-to-head at Old Trafford. FourFourTwo brings you…

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca defends his decision to make an unprecedented three substitutions in the opening 21 minutes of their…

Manchester United have “got worse” under Ruben Amorim, says former club captain and record goalscorer Wayne Rooney.The 20-time English champions…

Watch Manchester City vs Manchester United today in the 197th Manchester derby, as the blue and red halves of the…

Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen has signed for Wolfsburg after leaving Manchester United at the end of last season. The 33-year-old…