United could swap Martial for Perisic as deal nears completion

There’s a chance that Anthony Martial could be leaving Manchester United after just a couple of seasons. For United, it’s bit of a disappointment, as he promised so much in his first season with Louis van Gaal, and then struggled to make an impact or positive impression under Jose Mourinho. The temptation is to always give more time to younger players, and Martial has the talent to be one of the best. With Mourinho, he rarely indulges younger players the time to learn how to be more effective. While it’s disappointing, Ivan Perisic is ready now, and United have spent too long without any meaningful success. This is a success that might pay off for all parties if Martial is headed to Inter Milan, as the Mirror suggest.

Mourinho is keeping his gob shut over the Perisic deal, but the Daily Mail believe that the move is almost complete. It’s fair to assume that, unless he is suddenly on his way elsewhere in the next day or so, that all is complete and that he’s going to turn up in a red shirt soon enough.

Mourinho was happy to talk about referees though, for a change, as he explained that Antonio Valencia was sent off after a rough challenge because he wasn’t prepared to substitute him at the referee’s request. UEFA’s pernicious extends ever further.

Here’s the report in the Telegraph of United’s second tour match in America, against Real Salt Lake. I was reading a book about short-selling over the last week or so, and it was said that there are no honest companies based in Utah. I’ve no idea whether that is true, but it’s certainly more interesting than a friendly.

And we can all breathe a sigh of relief: it appears that there is no chance that United will have to contend with appointing Ryan Giggs as manager in the near future.