MANCHESTER UNITED TALK : OLE'S IMPRESSIVE RUN - PHILIPPE COUTINHO DILEMMA & MORE
Burnley was never expected to be a real test for Manchester United football club. But Burnley turned to be a massive nail bitter in a match that the Red Devils were expected to conquer as Manchester United continue to barrel their way through the league in an attempt to capture a place in the top four places in the Premier League table.
Two months and a quick change in management from the stagnant approach of Jose Mourinho to the take no prisoners attacking approach of Ole Gunner Solskjaer and suddenly Manchester United turns to a team pumped back to life and ready to take on all comers. From the domestic adversary provided by teams such as Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal to the difficult European teams such as Paris ST German, Barcelona, and Juventus. Manchester United appear prime and eager to have a crack at any team thrown in their direction. Talk about Solskjaer making a quick impact in a flash. Let us not forget that this continuous winning streak Manchester United is on is not just against 2nd rate teams in general. Absolutely not the case. Ever since Ole Gunner Solskjaer took control as caretaker manager, Manchester United have competed against top teams such as Arsenal and Tottenham which resulted in not just a victory for Manchester United but a victory which saw Manchester United amass an improved statistic of 8 wins out of 8 games and scoring an average of two goals a game combining for a total of 17 goals in all competition so far. Manchester United have not just improved in their goal to game ratio under Ole Gunner Solskjaer but Manchester United have even further improved with the teams' energy on the pitch. Against Cardiff City, Manchester United covered ground on the field with an average sprint rate 102.22 km on the night. With subsequent victories over Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Tottenham, Newcastle, and Arsenal in general, questions have seriously begun to bubble as to what else Ole Gunner Solskjaer can possibly do to get the permanent role as Manchester United manager?
The rumor has it that Manchester United’s executive vice manager ED Woodward has Ole Gunner Solskjaer name boldly written as one of the top two candidates to take over as permanent manager at Old Trafford season. However, Manchester United appear not quite convinced on the idea of Ole Gunner Solskjaer as permanent manager if Manchester United failed to seal a spot in the top 4 positions of the Premier League table come to the end of the season. The stipulation seems a bit unfair given that Ole Gunner Solskjaer only inherited the burden of becoming Manchester United caretaker manager mid-way into the current 2018-2019 season after the previous manager Jose Mourinho had already impacted serious damage to Manchester United’s performance in the past two or more seasons. Despite the unfair challenge stacked in front of Ole Gunner Solskjaer, Solskjaer has continued to make a serious case for himself becoming the next official permanent manager at Old Trafford.
However, the Glazer family have refused to give in to the temptation of signing Ole Gunner Solskjaer as the new permanent manager at Old Trafford in hopes of Mauricio Pochettino changing his mind and take up the challenge of becoming Manchester United manager in the summer of 2019. A few more steps to take until the end of the current season with Manchester United still looking convinced that Mauricio Pochettinho can still be the right pick for the Managerial position over Ole Gunner Solskjaer hence the delay in offering Ole Gunner Solskjaer the permanent role. However, Manchester United should be wary of the backlash of letting Ole Gunner Solskjaer go and then failing to secure Mauricio Pauchettinho signature as Manchester United general manager next season. Manchester United will indeed be faced with a devastating double loss in manager by the middle of summer 2019.
Shifting gears from the managerial conundrum facing Manchester United to the poor movement done by Manchester United in the recently concluded January 2019 transfer window. Manchester United was expected to make some decent number of signing this January transfer window with at least four current players expected to depart from the club by the conclusion of the 2019 calendar. With the conclusion January 2019 transfer window, Manchester United have failed to add more strength to their roaster leaving doubts on whether the current Manchester United team will be able to secure top four of the Premier League table. Interestingly enough Philippe Coutinho has become the new subject of interest for Manchester United which has gone from speculative interest to serious interest this past month of January. Frankly, there is little to no possibility of this move transpiring for two reasons, one is the financial aspect. For Barcelona to be able to spend 142 million dollars on such a high profile player for Liverpool points to the strong implication that Barcelona intent on keeping hold of the Brazilian Star for a much longer period than 2019. Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has already embarked on calming any possible storm allegedly brewing between Coutinho and Barcelona. Should Manchester United truly be interested on signing Philippe Coutinho Manchester United owner must be ready to let go of one of Manchester United's’ high profile players such as Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial or Paul Pogba as well as three less pivotal players such as Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini to assure financing a deal for Philippe Coutinho will balance the cheque book as well as maintaining balance in the Manchester United.
Realistically speaking, bringing Philip Coutinho to Manchester United is a deal that at this point in time makes little sense from the aspect of both Manchester United and Barcelona. The 2019 summer transfer window might be a more sensible period to emphasize the possibility of Philippe Coutinho moving to Old Trafford but even a move for Coutinho in the summer of 2019 is a very thin stretch to pull off even for a massive club such as Manchester United. "
