Could Manchester United swap Alexis Sanchez for Philippe Coutinho?

Rio Ferdinand believes that Manchester United could now have an advantage over Manchester City in the pursuit of younger players. In the Telegraph he thinks that the success they’ve had recently with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, using youth team products (of a sort) like Andreas Pereira, Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford, Jessie Lingard and others will give them the chance to show that they give young players a chance where, Phil Foden aside, Spanish manager Pep Guardiola has failed to do so.

The Mirror thinks that United offered Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona on loan. Sanchez played some of his best football at Barcelona before joining Arsenal, and they are in the market for another option in attack. The problem is that they want back-up rather than someone who would cost half a million quid a week, and the Spanish champions understandably turned the offer down.

United’s possible replacement for Sanchez is Jadon Sancho. United think that £80 million could be enough to sign him, according to the Independent. The 18-year-old England international is a promising player, but the story also suggests that United have been offered Philippe Coutinho, who has struggled in Spain. Perhaps a swap for Sanchez and Coutinho would be a reasonable suggestion for a couple of years.

Apparently Solskjaer will not spend on the defence in the summer. The frankly ludicrous suggestion is here, in the Daily Mail. If United really do start another season with Chris Smalling and Phil Jones in contention of starting regularly, then we should just all give up and go home at that point. There should be enough money to both buy Sancho and a defender, but apparently common sense and financial aptitude is still beyond the club.

And lastly, Jurgen Klopp has said the words ‘Manchester United’. You can discover the context on ESPN.