Manchester United linked with late move for Arjen Robben

PANIC. Ander Herrera and Juan Mata both have just 12 months to run on their contracts at Manchester United. Expect United to deal with this quickly. There’s no hint that either Herrera or Mata want to leave Manchester, so this should be a pretty straightforward thing to resolve. That’s right, they can both join Manchester City in a year’s time to be managed by Brendan Rodgers.

Manchester United are just one of the clubs who are against ending the transfer window earlier than the rest of the UEFA teams. It’s a perfectly sensible idea for everyone to shift their transfer window to the summer and winter breaks (and for the Premier League to adopt a mid-season break along with the other leagues), but unless other play along, it’s simply putting English teams at a disadvantage.

Ross Barkley had been set to join Chelsea, but there was an outside interest from United, apparently. Any move may have been put on hold, though, because his torn hamstring means he could be out of action for a few more months yet. Barkley would be an occasionally useful but largely pointless purchase for anyone with top four aspirations, to be honest.

Former United central defender Jonny Evans is possibly going to make a return to Manchester, but it’s Pep Guardiola who wants him. They’ve had a £18m bid rejected, and will likely return with another to force West Brom’s hand with economic temptation. It’s funny, Evans isn’t good enough for the top four, but still better than every one of City’s current central defensive options.

And lastly, there’s been some late, unconvincing interest in Arjen Robben. If United could get two seasons out of him, and if Bayern Munich are happy to let him go, then it would be welcome addition to the squad, and negate the need to go for Antoine Griezmann. It’s not going to happen though, is it?