Manchester United’s legendary ex-manager Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken out, while the reasons behind Adrien Rabiot’s failed move to the Premier League have emerged
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag keeping his feet on the ground despite Barnsley rout
Manchester United are back in action against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
Erik ten Hag’s side will be hoping to continue their goalscoring form at Selhurst Park after banging in a combined 10 goals against Southampton and Barnsley without reply. United are already behind the pace being set at the top of the league having suffered defeats against Brighton and Liverpool.
After an encouraging week, they have been further boosted by the return to training of Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund following hamstring injuries. United were thrashed 4-0 by Palace at Selhurst Park on May 6 and Ten Hag cannot afford a similar setback with the pressure on since Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave him a stay of execution in the summer. Here are the latest Mirror Football headlines.
Fergie misses management
Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down as United manager over 11 years ago and is now 82 years, but he still sometimes wishes he was still in the dugout.
“Yeah, I miss it sometimes,” he told BBC Breakfast. “I think the first year after retirement, I went to the European final and I said to Cathy ‘this is what I miss’ – big games, the European games.
“So then I went to most of the European finals because I find something I can relate to, something I would liked to have done every day. Because these are the big events that United should always be involved in.”
Garnacho welcomes Hojlund back
Hojlund is delighted to be back training for the first time following a hamstring injury in pre-season against Arsenal. The Denmark striker has not featured so far this season but could be in the squad in south London.
“I guess being a football player the caption should be ‘happy to be on the pitch again’, but I think the photo says it all,” he on Instagram wrote alongside a picture of him grinning with Mason Mount. United winger Garnacho replied: “finally” with four crying emojis.
But Ten Hag has stressed that Hojliund will not be rushed back. “You have to be careful,” he said. “In top football, you always go to boundaries. When you have a full squad available, then it’s easier to manage the load. When you are in circumstances like last season and there’s a need to play, we had to overload them. We hope we can integrate them in a very careful way.”
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Rabiot wanted too much
Adrien Rabiot was linked with Manchester United and Liverpool but ended up joining Marseille on a free transfer following his departure from Juventus. The France international was offered huge money to move to Turkey or Saudi Arabia but he wanted to stay in Europe.
We are told that it was his ‘dream’ to move to the Premier League, but ultimately his wage demands put off Liverpool and United. The Reds were focused on landing Manuel Ugarte instead and his £50million move from Paris Saint-Germain was completed.
Rabiot was convinced to join Marseille in part because he needs regular football in a well-watched league to keep his place in the France national team. He joined Marseille alongside a glut of players Mason Greenwood, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Jonathan Rowe, among others.
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