Man United ‘sweating’, ‘fearing’ the De Gea and Pogba worst

Matt Stead

De stayer
David de Gea plays for Manchester United. David de Gea has a contract with Manchester United until next summer. David de Gea does not seem particularly eager to leave Manchester United. Manchester United are particularly eager to keep him.

The problem with David de Gea and Manchester United, at least when it comes to news outlets predicated on bringing us the latest updates on ever-changing stories every single day, is that, well, there are no latest updates. This is not an ever-changing story: he plays for them, has a contract with them, is happy playing for them and they are happy to keep him. There has been no information to the contrary of any of those points for quite some time.

The Sun are fully aware of this, yet have still managed to produce each of the following stories this year:

‘Chances of De Gea signing a new Man Utd contract ‘remote’ if club miss top four’ – Jamie Gordon, The Sun, April 23.

‘David De Gea given just one week to make decision on £350,000-a-week Man Utd deal’ – Mike McGrath, The Sun exclusive, May 5.

‘David De Gea set to stay at Man Utd as club prepare £350k-a-week five-year deal’ – Neil Custis, The Sun exclusive, June 21.

‘David De Gea wants to become Man Utd captain next season after signing new £375,000-a-week deal’ – Neil Custis, The Sun, July 22

‘DAVID DE GEA has STILL not signed his new Manchester United contract’ – Mike McGrath, The Sun exclusive, August 10.

To clarify, De Gea, who had one week left to make his decision in early May, is not signing a new deal because United finished sixth, but was ‘set to stay’ by late June, wanted to become captain (with a random £25k pay rise) a month later, and had STILL not signed his deal by August.

Which brings us to the latest edition of ‘people are still Googling ‘De Gea contract’ so we need something, guys’.

Mike McGrath duly obliges with another exclusive. No, it’s not that he STILL hasn’t signed a contract with a bizarrely fluctuating wage.

‘David De Gea could keep Manchester United sweating until January,’ is his latest exclusive offering. This should be good: it had the word ‘worry’ in the headline before it was changed, leaving it only in the URL. Silly sods.

‘The keeper has yet to put pen to paper despite agreeing a £350,000-a-week deal in principle.’

To save you the time, Mike – and this might sound obvious – De Gea won’t have signed a contract until he signs a contract. That doesn’t mean we need a story every fortnight telling us he hasn’t signed a contract.

If he agreed to it in principle, that’s enough for now. ‘Nothing has changed’ is not a story.

‘SunSport revealed this month the 28- year-old’s new six-year contract is in place but has not been rubber-stamped.

‘United expect the Spaniard’s signature on the fresh terms and the deal can be announced once it is finalised.’

That explains why the word ‘worry’ was removed from the headline. You can’t ‘worry’ about something when you ‘expect’ the opposite to happen.

And yes, the deal ‘can be announced once it is finalised’. That is how this kind of thing works.

‘But they are waiting for the green light to confirm their No 1 has committed his future to Old Trafford.’

Right…remind us what the story is here? And how will he keep them ‘sweating until January’?

‘Real Madrid are also long-term admirers and they will be able to formally approach De Gea with a pre-contract if he gets to January with just six months left on his current deal.’

So De Gea has verbally agreed a contract, which you told us earlier this month. But it has not yet been signed, which we know because it hasn’t been announced. And any European club can open talks over a pre-contract in January, which was already known to those with a basic knowledge of the transfer window.

Mediawatch is struggling to decipher what new information this exclusive has given us – except that The Sun will throw sh*t at the wall until some of it finally sticks.

Mind you, we knew that already.

 

Pog’s dinner
When not busying themselves trying to remember what their most recent De Gea claim was, The Sun like to make out that Paul Pogba is a problem. Mediawatch is sat here wondering why.

According to Neil Custis, ‘there was real shock’ at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to drop him from penalty-taking duties this week. It was a decision that ‘effectively brought Pogba down a peg or two’ – although it is never explained quite why he was so many pegs high.

Must be that discussionsquabble he had with Marcus Rashford. Uppity b*stard.

That situation is said to have ‘angered’ Solskjaer (it sure sounded like it), but how Pogba ‘reacts’ is the most ‘concerning’ aspect for his teammates… says Neil Custis.

They ‘are worried his head is not 100 per cent at Old Trafford,’ and ‘are now fearing…where Pogba’s head is at’.

Why are United players so obsessed with Paul Pogba’s head? Actually, don’t answer that.

‘Can Solskjaer be certain he will still get the very best out of him?’

Perhaps not. Perhaps so. But whatever he does get out of him will be a damn sight better than what any of their other midfielders can offer, so they should be fine.

And United players seemed more at pains to stress their support for Pogba on Tuesday, rather than ‘worrying’ or ‘fearing’ where his head is at after being told someone better at taking penalties was going to take penalties in the future.

 

The big reveal
‘Manchester United great Cristiano Ronaldo reveals how he almost joined Arsenal’ – Manchester Evening Propaganda.

Anyone else reeling from this shocking revelation (that Arsene Wenger discussed in summer 2018 and an Arsenal scout confirmed in 2016)?

 

Transfer marketing
The MEP missed a trick, mind. One particular word is missing from the headline.

Take a look at this story elsewhere on the website:

‘Romelu Lukaku criticises Manchester United over his transfer exit’

Lovely. Everyone knows to crowbar ‘Manchester United’ and ‘transfer’ into a headline – even if it makes less sense.

 

LIVE and in colour
The Liverpool Echo have the right idea, look:

‘Liverpool transfer news LIVE – ‘No comparison’ between Trent Alexander-Arnold and Man Utd man, Reds ‘plot move’ for £91m rated Kai Havertz’

You’d think a ‘Liverpool transfer news LIVE’ blog would prioritise the, well, transfer news in the headline.

 

Echo, echo, echo
And that is one of only 24 uses of the word ‘transfer’ on the Liverpool Echo’s Liverpool homepage, alongside:

‘Liverpool transfer priorities for 2020 are already clear’ – because they are the same as this summer when they signed no-one.

‘Liverpool’s transfer stance on Ryan Kent amid fresh reports of Rangers return’ – they still won’t let him leave on loan.

‘Jurgen Klopp hints at Liverpool retirement plan – and his Philippe Coutinho Barcelona transfer regret’ – although saying he’d rather not have sold him is not much of a regret when he was previously acknowledged the money was used to sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson.

 

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