Man Utd transfer news LIVE: Red Devils urged to buy £100m Rice, Rangnick losing dressing room EXCLUSIVE, Haaland latest
MANCHESTER UNITED have been urged to splash the cash on Declan Rice after SunSport revealed the club are confident of landing the England man next summer.
West Ham have slapped a stunning £100m asking price on the Three Lions star, but the Red Devils are confident of tempting him up to the North West.
Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick is losing the dressing room after his sides dismal 1-0 defeat to Wolves on Monday.
SunSport can exclusively reveal that the interim boss has a reputation for being aloof and overconfident.
And United players have also openly admitted to the hierarchy that they should have appointed Antonio Conte before he joined Tottenham.
We've also the very latest on Erling Haaland as Premier League clubs continue to eye a swoop for the Dortmund superstar.
Get all the latest Man Utd transfer news, updates and gossip on our live blog…
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- Kostas Lianos
Axel goes
Napoli appear to have reached an agreement to sign Manchester United ace Axel Tuanzebe on loan for the remainder of the season.
According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Tuanzebe has cut short his second stint at Aston Villa in order to join the Partenopei.
Romano tweeted: "Done deal and confirmed.
"Napoli have reached a verbal agreement with Man United for Axel Tuanzebe: loan until June, €500k (£420k) loan fee."
The defender's reported move to the Diego Maradona Stadium is said to not include an option to buy and he will replace Kostas Manolas, who returned to Olympiacos
- Kostas Lianos
Rice comparison
Former Manchester United ace Paul Parker hinted that West Ham star Declan Rice is the closest thing to Bryan Robson, Roy Keane and Paul Ince.
Parker told bettors.ng: “Declan Rice is the closest player that Manchester United could ever get, who you would say is – ‘no he’s Bryan Robson, no he’s Roy Keane, no he’s Paul Ince’. This is because he wants to do everything.
“He’s one of those players who wants to say ‘please don’t label me’.
“Don’t label me as a defensive midfield player. Don’t label me as an attacking midfielder as I want to be all over the park trying to control everything”
GETTY IMAGES - Kostas Lianos
‘Next level’
Former Manchester United player Paul Parker believes West Ham star Declan Rice would take the team’s midfield to the “next level”.
Parker told bettors.ng: “Manchester United at the moment are shopping in a bargain basement. Everyone else is picking up from Harrod’s and Selfridges. Manchester United are shopping at Poundland at this moment.
“For Declan Rice, if he’s [worth] £100million, spend £160million. Give him what he wants and what happens is that he takes your team to another level. Because Manchester United’s [current] midfield is an embarrassment to the club.
“Get players without leaving your shores and you know that they can play in your league. There’s no qualms about, as Sky do, difficulty in adapting to the Premier League. It’s not. Good players adapt to football. No worries about these players. They’ve proved themselves already and you go out and get them”
- Kostas Lianos
Rice touch
Manchester United have been urged to splash the cash for West Ham star Declan Rice this summer by former player Paul Parker.
Parker told bettors.ng: “If you wanted to spend a fortune on a midfield player, go and get Declan Rice.
“Declan is the best central midfielder in the country.
“If City wants to pay £100million for Jack Grealish, if someone wants you to pay £160million [for Rice] then you gotta pay it because Jack Grealish wasn’t worth £100million. They’ve set a mark now”
- Kostas Lianos
Rangnick worry
Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick's short stint at Old Trafford has already hit a few speed bumps, it seems.
SunSport understand that behind the scenes, Rangnick has a reputation for being aloof and overconfident.
United players have also openly admitted the hierarchy should have appointed Antonio Conte before he joined Tottenham.
And they also expect Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino to take charge this coming summer
- Kostas Lianos
Ralf rift battle
Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick is battling a dressing-room rift which threatens to completely derail the club's season.
SunSport can reveal a number of United stars feel certain senior team-mates have too much sway with Rangnick on big decisions.
Now a division is opening up at Old Trafford — with a belief that some players are being favoured despite their poor form.
One well-placed Red Devils source branded the club’s set-up a ‘shambles’, while another fears the German head coach's short-term reign will be a ‘disaster’.
A source said: “The players have their own cliques, one of which is making the others feel like they need to step up a level when it is the whole team that’s struggling.
“The players are demoralised. This is deja vu of the previous years when things went wrong.
"The fans probably think the players are not fit enough to put Rangnick’s plans into action. That is so untrue. Certain players have just lost that knack and desire.
“Plus, there is a belief within one section of the squad that some players get selected, regardless of their displays. So everything is a complete shambles”
GETTY IMAGES - Joshua Mbu
Good morning Man Utd fans
Manchester United's tactics were torn apart by Wolves boss Bruno Lage after his side won 1-0 at Old Trafford.
He said: "The most important thing to us is to see where the full-backs are and in which positions they start in order to find the spaces.
"When they are defending or when they are attacking, where are they? And if you look at the first-half, when they defended, they were trying to block. [Edinson] Cavani tried to control Ruben [Neves], Cristiano Ronaldo tried to control [Conor] Coady and the wingers came inside.
"So the space was on the outside. That's why [Nelson] Semedo and Marcal had a lot of chances and a lot of the ball in the first-half."And the boys found those spaces. That's what is so important – when you have the ball to find the space. And when you are defending [Daniel] Podence and Trincao understand what to do if the full-backs are in front of them…
"Or if they go it's not your man and you control the space inside. The players understood the plan and we deserved the three points."
Meanwhile, a Manchester United player allegedly had to GOOGLE who Ralf Rangnick was when he was named as the club's new boss.
it's been claimed that at-least one bewildered United star had to resort to the popular search engine Google to find out who the incoming German was, according to ESPN reporter Mark Ogden.Ogden also claims that there may have been more United players who flocked to Google to check out Rangnick's credentials – but wasn't able to confirm if this was the case.
The Red Devils have been out of sorts recently – and the members of the team not recognising Rangnick's credentials could play a part in their poor form, Ogden alleges.
- Dylan Terry
United closer to the bottom
Manchester United are staring at a potential £86million financial black hole unless interim chief Ralf Rangnick can turn the club’s fortunes around.
Monday’s desperate 1-0 home defeat by Wolves left United in seventh on 31 points, four points adrift of Arsenal in the battle for the top four.
United are also already two points below resurgent Spurs, who have a game in hand over them and two more to play than their north London rivals, while West Ham are on 34.
And most damningly, they are closer to Norwich at the bottom of the Premier League table than they are to Manchester City at the top.
- Dylan Terry
Jones should be proud – Shaw
Manchester United defender Luke Shaw praised Phil Jones after he returned to the side for the first time in nearly two years.
Jones impressed despite United's 1-0 defeat to Wolves on Monday night.
And Shaw said: “Phil Jones should be proud of himself.
"I think he’s been criticised for a number of years constantly, people always getting at him but he’s stuck by it, he’s so professional, trains so hard and he got his chance tonight and I think he was phenomenal.”
- Dylan Terry
Rio slams United performance
Rio Ferdinand has attacked both Manchester United and Luke Shaw following the insipid performance against Wolves on Monday night.
- Dylan Terry
Man Utd trophy cabinet
- Dylan Terry
Newcastle agree Kieran Trippier deal
Newcastle have agreed a £12million deal to sign Manchester United target and Atletico Madrid full-back Kieran Trippier, according to Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie.
Big moves from the newly-crowned richest club in the world.
- Dylan Terry
'It's not good is it'
Gary Neville hit out at Manchester United after their dreadful defeat against Wolves.
The former right-back took to Twitter on Tuesday morning with his damning assessment.
He simply wrote: "It’s not good. It really isn’t!"
Neville saw his beloved Red Devils slump to a 1-0 loss at home on Monday evening.
It was the first time Ralf Rangnick had suffered defeat since taking over as interim boss at the end of November.
- Dylan Terry
Lukaku apologises to Chelsea fans
Former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has released a new video apologising to the Chelsea fans for the upset he caused after vocalising his unhappiness at the club.
An interview wit the Blues forward from December whipped up a storm – which led Thomas Tuchel to drop him for the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday.
But in a new interview the Belgium said: "I'm sorry for the upset I have caused."
Tuchel confirmed earlier today that Lukaku has apologised and he is now available for selection once more.
- Dylan Terry
Napoli set for Tuanzebe loan
Napoli are poised to sign Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe on loan until the end of the season.
Journalist Fabrizio Romano hsa said: "Napoli will pay €600k guaranteed loan fee for Axel Tuanzebe deal.
"Man Utd will receive also €400k in case Napoli will qualify for UCL + €200k if Axel will play certain number of games. #MUFC #Napoli
"Tuanzebe will join Napoli on straight loan. No buy option included."
- Dylan Terry
De Gea praises Jones return
- Dylan Terry
Season ticket holder on safe standing
Manchester United season ticket holder Will Blatcher, who has been going to Old Trafford since 1998, has given his take on the new safe standing area.
He said: “It was good. I want to stand up at a game. Whether United win, whether United lose, I'm going to want to stand up and I'm going to want to support the team, and this just gives you that ability to do it a little bit more.
“You never see a choir that are seated! If I remember correctly from being dragged to choir performances when I was at school! It promotes a better atmosphere, having people standing up.
“You're quite restricted when you're sat down. You're crammed in; there's not that much space around you. I naturally move when the game's in play. I step forward or I step sideways.
"I'm not quite as bad as someone like Martin O'Neill, jumping up and down on the touchline, heading every ball! But I do move with it, so being able to stand up just helps with that. I always felt restricted when I was forced to sit down at a match.”
- Dylan Terry
Ince slams average Man Utd
'Bang average' Manchester United have made NO progress under Ralf Rangnick, according to Paul Ince.
Ince fumed: "If I'm being totally honest, then no. It reminds me of when Ole first took over at Manchester United and he had an easy fixture list – Cardiff, teams like that – and it came off the back of a Jose Mourinho team where the players didn't really like Mourinho and the atmosphere was hostile.
"Ole came in, had a great fixture list to go into, changed the system, changed certain things, made it a happy camp and they started winning games.
"I think we all got hoodwinked into the fact that this was the way forward and we were making progress. I get that same feeling now.
"The fixture list that Ralf has come into is the perfect fixture list for any manager managing a big club like Manchester United. Apart from Palace at home, the performances have been absolutely bang average, they really, really have.
"If you could ask any Manchester United fan sitting there now who knows about football, do you see a progression in the development of what we have seen over the last five games? You actually have to say no."
- Dylan Terry
Man Utd next five games
- Dylan Terry
Jones 'fantastic' on United return
Former Manchester United centre-back David May was thoroughly impressed by Phil Jones' performance on his return to the team on Monday night.
He told the club website: "Considering the amount of time he's been out with injuries, I thought he was absolutely brilliant.
"He did ever so well. If there's any positives out of tonight, that's certainly a positive.
"I thought he was fantastic."
- Dylan Terry
Ferguson and Carrick meet up
Manchester United legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Michael Carrick had plenty to chew over as they met at a plush Cheshire restaurant the day after the Red Devils' disaster 1-0 loss to Wolves at Old Trafford.
The pair dined at a swanky Italian in Wilmslow on Tuesday morning and were deep in conversation for more than two hours.
The pair arrived together and walked into Casa Italia just after 10am.
They were not joined by anyone for the entire time and left the eatery around 12:15pm.
Having chatted into the afternoon, the United icons stopped to bid farewell on the doorstep.
- Dylan Terry
Ronaldo return turning into nightmare
Cristiano Ronaldo's fairytale return to Manchester United is quickly unravelling into a nightmare.
He knows it, the fans are increasingly thinking it, and the new manager does not know how to reverse it.
He returned in a bid to win another title, another Champions League, to complete the circle back at the club where he made his name.
At this rate he’ll be lucky to have an FA Cup winners’ medal to add to his impressive haul.
- Dylan Terry
United for top four?
Manchester United have incredibly still been backed to finish in the top four this season following their defeat to Wolves by a boffin Supercomputer.
The Red Devils were beaten 1-0 at Old Trafford on Monday as Joao Moutinho fired home in the 82nd minute to put a dent in their Champions League qualification hopes.
The result leaves Ralf Rangnick's side in seventh spot in the Premier League – four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
But according to bettingexpert.com, United are poised to pick up a run of form under the interim German gaffer to claim the final European Cup spot.
- Dylan Terry
United favourites to sign Dembele
Manchester United are favourites to sign Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele.
Dembele, 24, has entered the final six months of his contract at the Nou Camp meaning the Red Devils could sign the forward at a cut price.
Betfair have Manchester United at 4/1 to sign the former Borussia Dortmund who looks likely to leave either this month or in the summer.
The Catalan giants recently confirmed the signing of Ferran Torres for £55million but they cannot register the former Man City star until Barcelona sell player or reduce their wage bill.
And with Dembele now being free to talk to clubs outside of Spain, Barca could look to offload him in January to recoup funds.
- Dylan Terry
Man Utd player googled Rangnick
A Manchester United player allegedly had to GOOGLE who Ralf Rangnick was when he was named as the club's new boss.
The 63-year-old replaced former Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last November after the Norwegian was given the boot.
But Rangnick was not the high-profile name that many at Old Trafford hoped would be given the role – with both Zinedine Zidane and current Tottenham boss Antonio Conte heavily linked with the job.
And it's been claimed that at-least one bewildered United star had to resort to the popular search engine Google to find out who the incoming German was, according to ESPN reporter Mark Ogden.
Ogden also claims that there may have been more United players who flocked to Google to check out Rangnick's credentials – but wasn't able to confirm if this was the case.
The Red Devils have been out of sorts recently – and the members of the team not recognising Rangnick's credentials could play a part in their poor form, Ogden alleges.
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