Speculation linking Man Utd with former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane “doesn’t really make sense”, according to journalist Dean Jones.
The Red Devils enjoyed a positive first season under Erik ten Hag with the Dutchman guiding them to an FA Cup final, Carabao Cup silverware and a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag this summer?
However, this campaign has not gone to plan with Man Utd exiting the Champions League as the bottom side in their group, while Ten Hag’s men are currently a disappointing sixth in the Premier League.
Ten Hag is coming under increased pressure over results and performances after Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed a deal to buy 25 per cent of the club last month.
There have been rumours that Ratcliffe is looking to change manager in the summer, especially if Man Utd fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Former CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs recently claimed that sources had told him that it’s likely that former Real Madrid manager Zidane has been considered for the Man Utd job.
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Jacobs told GiveMeSport: “It would not remotely surprise me, speaking to sources, if Zidane is at least considered for the Man Utd job. We know there’s a lot of admiration within the INEOS group for Potter, who was considered in the past for Nice. These kinds of names are normal to hear about. There’s a lot of talk about Amorim for multiple clubs.
Related video: Erik ten Hag says Manchester United have no plans to sell Marcus Rashford (Daily Mail)

You have envisaged a situation where the club may look

“However, the reality is that appreciating and thinking about names is just normal succession planning. It doesn’t, at this stage, definitely mean that ten Hag is going. It might even put some welcome pressure on him to fight even harder.
“Ten Hag still does have the ability to stay at Manchester United beyond the summer. He’s just not being told it’s a given, and he has to earn that right, which is why the next few weeks and months are important.”

Simone Inzaghi or Zinedine Zidane to Man Utd?

And now Jones has mentioned Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi – who has been linked with Liverpool – as a potential option but doubts Man Utd could land the Italian or Zidane this summer.
Jones, also speaking to GiveMeSport, said: “Simone Inzaghi is at the top of his game and has got Inter Milan to the top of the league. I don’t know if he’d be willing to walk away from that to go to Man Utd right now. And in terms of Zidane, that one doesn’t really make sense to me either.

“I think he will be wanting to coach elite players and go for the biggest trophies. I don’t think it will appeal to him that much to fall into a side where half the team needs a confidence boost. You’re going to have to be a little bit careful about the money you can spend, you’re not in the Champions League.
“I just really don’t see why he would want it at this moment in time when he didn’t even want it a few years ago, when they had the chance to actually build something. I know he outlined back then it was possibly due to a lack of command of English, but I think there was more to it than that.”

Next Liverpool boss: ‘Interest’ confirmed in ‘terrific’ manager with Klopp ‘parallels’ after Edwards return

Liverpool have made Lens manager Franck Haise a target to become their next manager, according to French football expert Jonathan Johnson.
The Reds are on the lookout for a new manager after Jurgen Klopp announced earlier this year that he will leave Anfield at the end of the season to take a break from football.

Haise to rise to the top of Liverpool’s shortlist?

Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is still favourite with the bookmakers to take over from Klopp in the summer with Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann and Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi also linked.
The process is expected to progress at a quicker pace now that Michael Edwards has returned to Liverpool in a different role and Richard Hughes is set to join him as sporting director from Bournemouth.
Lens boss Haise, who helped the French side to a second-placed finish behind PSG last season, has been mentioned in passing but Johnson believes he could be a serious candidate for the job at Anfield.
Explaining why Haise to Liverpool makes more sense than you might think, Johnson wrote in his Caught Offside column: “Although we’ve heard a lot about names like Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi, Lens manager Franck Haise has also been linked as one potential outsider for the Liverpool job after his impressive work in Ligue 1.
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90 minutes told him. If I was actually the plan

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“My understanding is that, yes, there has been interest in him going back a couple of years now, not just from Liverpool but also from other clubs across Europe. Haise has spoken about the Liverpool links publicly and said he’s quite flattered, and that it gives validation to the good work that he and his staff and players have done so far.
“I think it’s important, however, to flag up precisely what Haise has achieved, as there’ll be some fans in England whose first response to links with Liverpool might be ‘who’s he?’ and ‘what’s he achieved?’ and I don’t think you can underplay the massive role that he’s played in the restoration of Lens to being one of France’s major clubs once again.
“Lens has huge cultural significance to French football, a huge fan-base, and there are a lot of parallels between them and Borussia Dortmund, which perhaps makes sense as him being linked as someone who could follow Jurgen Klopp. Still, in terms of what he’s done on the pitch he’s not had quite the same amount of time with Lens as Klopp had with Dortmund, so he doesn’t have the silverware or European runs to boast.

Lens the most in-form team in France in 2024

“What Haise has done, though, is ensured Lens got back into the Champions League this season, after finishing just a point behind champions PSG last term, and they’ve never finished lower than 7th under the 52-year-old. They are statistically the most in-form team in France in 2024, so if you bear in mind that he’s done all this with a fraction of the budget of PSG, he has done a phenomenal job.
“He keeps improving players as well, if you look at the names the club have sold at a major profit, while he’s also kept the team competitive even after they’ve left, so it’s hard to underplay what a terrific job he’s done, and it’s not gone unnoticed by English clubs, with Brighton looking at him before appointing Roberto De Zerbi to replace Graham Potter.
“While I’d expect Haise to continue being on the radar of top clubs around Europe, there might be some issues with the language barrier at Liverpool, but in terms of the overall fit I don’t think it’s a nonsensical story at all.”

Arsenal ‘offer’ £60m as Mikel Arteta targets summer transfer for former player

Arsenal are lining up a deal for Real Madrid midfielder Brahim Diaz ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports.
The Gunners are currently having a brilliant season with Mikel Arteta leading them to first place in the Premier League with ten matches to play.

Arsenal to be big players in the transfer market?

Their penalty shootout victory over Porto in the last-16 of the Champions League has seen Arsenal move into the final eight of the competition, where they will face Bayern Munich.
And Arsenal are set to be big players in the transfer market once again with Arteta’s side gradually improving year on year since the Spaniard arrived at the Emirates Stadium in 2019,

Summer signings Declan Rice, David Raya and Kai Havertz have all improved Arteta’s squad this term, while there is excitement at Jurrien Timber’s return to fitness.
There are lots of rumours surrounding Arsenal needing a centre-forward in the summer with pundits and former players doubting their ability to win the Premier League with Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah as their main two striker options.
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That is likely to happen but Spanish publication Nacional insists that Arteta also has one eye on strengthening their depth in attacking midfield and out wide.
The report adds that Arsenal have made an ‘offer’ of €70m (£60m) for Diaz ahead of the summer transfer window and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez ‘must decide whether to sell him or retain him’.
Related video: How Mikel Arteta Just Fixed Arsenal's Biggest Problem (FourFourTwo)

width which stretches the opposition defence,

Arsenal are ‘interested’ in the former Manchester City player – who was at the Etihad Stadium during Arteta’s time as City assistant – after he showed in recent weeks that he is prepared to be one of Real Madrid’s leading players.
However, the imminent addition of Kylian Mbappe on a free transfer in the summer ‘means that it will be even more difficult for Brahim to be a starter’.
That means he will ‘consider packing his bags’ and Arsenal are ‘in the auction’ for him as the biggest club who want his services in the next transfer window.

Gunners still have to fork out for David Raya

Arsenal, who have had a long-term interest in Diaz, will also pay £27m to Brentford this summer to complete Raya’s permanent move to the Emirates Stadium with the Brentford goalkeeper currently on a season-long loan deal.
“After his Champions League heroics this week, we already know that Arsenal’s plans for next season involve buying goalkeeper David Raya permanently from Brentford,” transfer expert Fabrizio Romano told Caught Offside.

“Arsenal have a buy option clause in that contract, and the reality is the pact between Arsenal and Brentford was already there, but they did this as an initial loan with buy option because of Financial Fair Play.
“Still, this summer Arsenal will pay £27m for Raya – they trust him for the present and future. He’s always been on the radar of the club as a talented goalkeeper, and so they did well to take the opportunity to get this deal done last summer. The man who made the difference to sign him – of course apart from Arteta and Edu – is the GK assistant Inaki Cana who knew him very well.”
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Five potential replacements for Marcus Rashford as PSG eye Man Utd man; €175m superstar, classy Prem winger…

All season long, Marcus Rashford’s body language, on-pitch demeanour and productivity have been analysed and poured over amid suspicions the Manchester United superstar is no longer happy at his boyhood club. 
Now, with Kylian Mbappe in line for a summer switch to Real Madrid, the prospect of an Old Trafford exit for Rashford has been raised, with Paris Saint-Germain reportedly identifying the England forward as their top choice to replace their outgoing World Cup winner.
Rashford has scored just seven Premier League goals in 27 appearances this season, a marked regression from the career-best return of 17 from 33 games last term. United resisted PSG’s previous interest in the 26-year-old two years ago and signed their academy-bred attacker to a bumper new contract.
Now, though, the Red Devils are said to have named their price for Rashford – an offer £100 million could convince them to sell. 
If Rashford is to leave United this summer, here are five players the 20-time champions could target as his replacement.

Rafael Leao

The most obvious like-for-like Rashford replacement United could turn to is AC Milan’s Rafael Leao.
The 24-year-old Portugal international matches the Three Lions attacker for pace, skill in confined areas and a rasping right-footed shot. He also prefers to operate from the left wing, too, cutting on to his stronger side to threaten goal or attack the byline and create chances for team-mates with low cut-backs. So far, so very familiar.
Related video: Erik ten Hag says Manchester United have no plans to sell Marcus Rashford (Daily Mail)

You have envisaged a situation where the club may look

But comparing their current form, Leao might even be an upgrade on Rashford. Despite his scoring output in Serie A falling this term, per FBref.com Leao ranks in the 89th percentile among attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues over the past year when it comes to non-penalty goals per 90 minutes, the 91st percentile for assists, the 89th percentile for progressive carries and the 86th percentile for successful take-ons – all better than Rashford.
The main drawback to any potential pursuit of Leao, however, is the cost. The former Sporting CP and Lille winger has a €175 million release clause in his current contract, which Milan will reportedly demand in full.
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Donyell Malen 

As reports emerged of Borussia Dortmund’s interest in re-signing Jadon Sancho in January, there were rumours that United could line up a swap deal with the Bundesliga side – sending their outcast winger back to Germany in return for Malen.
That might not have been an especially enticing prospect for United fans at the time, but Malen’s recent productivity could make a Sancho swap a lot more desirable – by mid-January, the former PSV winger had scored just five Bundesliga goals; since then, he has hit seven in his last eight games.


Although he most often features on the right side of Dortmund’s attack, Malen has the versatility to play anywhere across the frontline.
His recent form is by far the best the 28-cap Netherlands international has produced since his moving to Signal Iduna Park in 2021. This uptick has not necessarily put Dortmund off the idea of parting ways with Malen, though, with reports suggesting the 25-year-old could still be used as a makeweight in a deal to make Sancho’s BVB return permanent.

Michael Olise 

Irrespective of Rashford’s potential exit, Crystal Palace winger Olise is set to be one of Manchester United’s top transfer targets this summer.
The club’s new part-owner, Sir Jim Radcliffe, and his INEOS sporting department – who have assumed control of football matters at Old Trafford – are believed to have sanctioned a £60 million swoop for the London-born France under-21 star.

Injuries have limited Olise to just eight Premier League starts so far this season, but still he has showcased his immense talents as both scorer and creator, netting six goals and providing three assists.
A skilful left-footed right winger with an electric burst of speed and a powerful shot, Olise is stylistically similar to Rashford except for the fact he plays on the opposite flank to the United man.
But the malleability of Erik ten Hag’s other attacking options would allow for Olise to step into Rashford’s starting berth at Old Trafford, with Alejandro Garnacho taking up residence on the left side.
READ MORE: Everton planning for exit of £80m Man Utd target; move for Tottenham linked Championship star talked up

Pedro Neto

Already a top target for Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham, United are said to have entered the running to sign gifted Wolves forward Neto.
The 24-year-old Portugal star is a less like-for-like Rashford equivalent than other potential targets, as he, like Olise, is a left-footer who prefers to play on the right side of attack.

But when it comes to creativity, few players in the Premier League can match Neto’s output – indeed, only Kieran Trippier, Ollie Watkins and Pascal Gross have provided more assists than the Molineux man’s nine so far this term.
As TEAMtalk exclusively revealed earlier this week, Wolves have set a £60 million asking price for Neto.

Nico Williams

Still just 21 years old, Williams already has three full seasons under his belt as a regular starter in La Liga with Athletic Bilbao, plus 11 senior caps for Spain.
And within that body of work, there has been ample evidence to convince several Premier League clubs to prepare summer moves for the Basque winger.
Reportedly a target for Chelsea, Tottenham and Aston Villa, Williams is enjoying his best season to date in 2023-24, with six goals and 12 assists in 28 appearances for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
A lightning-fast winger who, like Rashford, likes to cut in from the left on to his stronger right foot, Williams can also play on the right and is more creator than scorer. A £43 million release clause would make him an attractive option for a post-Rashford United.
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