Fellaini and Mkhitaryan could both leave Manchester United

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is facing the Manchester United exit, according to this story in the Daily Mail. Given Mkhitaryan kept his place while being awful for several games, it’s no surprise that this is the angle that the story is going with. But, honestly, does a couple of months of bad form always have to mean that it’s time that a player will be sold? Mkhitaryan has been occasionally excellent in the past, and has done best when Paul Pogba is in the side. It seems that everything is either brilliant or doomed these days, and I no longer have the energy to keep going with this nonsense carry-on.

Jose Mourinho is worried that United will be unable to afford to keep Marouane Fellani. With the Glazer family cutting back on spending, and as Mourinho has to sell in order to fund new transfers, losing players on free transfers hurts Mourinho even when it’s a player as limited as Fellaini. Not only that, he has his uses from the bench and to rest others. It’s depressing, but it will be like this until the owners change.

Mourinho has also defended his approach to the game, pointing out that United played Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic against Newcastle United. Playing all four against rubbish like Newcastle is one thing, and it isn’t really the criticism of Mourinho - the point is that he’s too conservative against teams like Chelsea and Liverpool, who are potentially vulnerable rivals.

This article in The Independent argues that Luke Shaw should leave Manchester United in order to make the most of his career. It’s true, but Shaw also needs to work on an attitude that has been criticised by three consecutive managers, and needs to be addressed.

And there’s an Andreas Pereira interview with Andy Mitten on ESPN, where he talks about his hopes of playing for United again.