James Garner close to contract extension and loan to Nottingham Forest

Rumors have emerged linking James Garner with another loan to Championship club Nottingham Forest, the club he spent the second half of the 2020/21 campaign at. Garner impressed last season at Forest and Watford, and there was some hope that he would feature at least partly in Manchester United’s campaign this season.

At 20 years old now, Garner is approaching the age where United will need to decide what to do with him, and he is currently in talks to extend his contract before a potential loan move. This could indicate a couple of things. One being, perhaps Solskjaer is set on his midfielders for this season. Scott McTominay and Fred formed an adequate duo for a lot of matches last season, but the general problem with playing the pair has been poor ball progression. Nemanja Matic fixes this, but is very clearly not the player he used to be physically and has trouble sustaining form. Manchester United are known to be in the market for a new holding midfielder that could push McFred to the bench, but recent reports have suggested this move is impossible to do without offloading some current players’ wages further down the pecking order.

Perhaps loaning Garner is indicative of United’s intention to push for a new midfielder this transfer window, but as the days go by it is looking more and more unlikely.