Last week, a report emerged suggesting that only ten members of the current Manchester United could sleep easily in the knowledge that they will play a part in the club’s future under Ineos.
As for the rest, well let’s just sayManchester United‘s new owners would not be averse to cashing in ahead of what is likely to be a summer of multiple incomings and outgoings.
Casemiro, Raphael Varane, Sofyan Amrabat Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial are expected to leave, while there are also question marks hanging over the head of many others outside of the chosen few; Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund among those safe from the axe.
Christian Eriksen, his contract expiring in 2025 and his influence waning, has admirers away from Old Trafford. A move to Turkey is seen as a possibility for a player who ticks many of those Super Lig boxes (ESPN).
Eriksen started successive Premier League games for the first time this year against Sheffield United and Burnley last week, but remains likely to fall even further down the pecking order with the Red Devils looking to add more youth and athleticism to a somewhat one-paced engine room.
And, speaking after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Burnley, the former Ajax playmaker admitted that he is somewhat in the dark with regards to his future.
Christian Eriksen addresses Manchester United exit talk
“I do not know,” the veteran Denmark international tells ViaPlay, via Tipsbladet. “I still have a year left on the United contract, so for now, I’m still a United player. So what will happen this summer, I don’t know.
“But I am incredibly happy to be here. It’s a great club and I feel good, so we’ll see what happens. But as I said, I have one year left.”
Eriksen admitted a few weeks back that he’s disappointed to have found game time so hard to come by in the opening months of 2024, though he was gracious enough to accept that Mainoo is one of the first names on Man United’s team sheet at the age of just 18 for a reason.
Mainoo started alongside Eriksen vs Burnley but was once again subbed off by Erik ten Hag in the second half, United losing control as they threw away yet another lead without their totemic teenager.
More points dropped by Erik ten Hag’s side
“I would say that, (if we have the lead) until the last five minutes of the game, and then we must also be able to keep it,” sighs Eriksen, United dropping nine points against Brentford, Chelsea, Liverpol and Burnley since the end of March.
“It’s a bit of a tendency we’ve had this season to concede a lot of goals in the last few minutes, so it’s something we have to get rid of.
“It (must look like) a big messy shop, if you have to follow it from the outside only. I would say that we are well protected by the club and the players have a good community. So, in that way, we protect each other in the way that we can.
“But there is a lot going on around the club, and of course if you open up the media a little too much, you can fall into it. I am sure that it must be hard for the younger players when you first arrive and then you have to go through this. It is something else.
“But there’s really nothing you can do about it. It is a big club and there is a lot of focus. When things go well, it’s heaven, and when things go badly, it’s hell.
“And it almost happens within two days.”
Of course, one way to avoid slipping from heaven to hell is to stop chucking away needless goals in the dying seconds of games they had looked destined to win…
