•Leicester City are back in the Premier League after one season in the Championship and as a result, Jamie Vardy has held talks with the club about extending his contract to end his career in the elite league.
•Erik Ten Hag has begun the process of fighting for his job. He wants to remain as the coach at Old Trafford despite interest in him from Dutch club Ajax.
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Despite what you might have read or heard about Mo Salah leaving Liverpool, there are no current plans to sell their main striker this summer.
Coach Jurgen Klopp stressed that his row with Mo at the weekend is over and settled and plays no part in the rumours that his striker is leaving.
There was strong interest from the Saudi Pro League last year with the 31-year-old striker being offered a two-year contract worth £150million. Mo’s contract ends in 2025 but the Saudis will try to lure him to the Middle East again this summer.
All but four of United’s players are up for sale
Manchester United have put out the word that all but three of their players are available for sale.
Rasmus Hojlund, Andre Onana, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho will not be allowed to leave and Marcus Rashford will only be sold if he wants to go.
United have indicated that they will listen to offers for Rashford who has scored only eight goals this season and has mentioned to friends that at 26 years of age, a fresh challenge could strengthen his form and put him in a better place to protect his England international place in coach Gareth Southgate’s squad.
New owner Sir James Ratcliffe and his team have to contend with a delicate balancing act.
They want to get rid of some of United’s higher-paid stars who they feel are not contributing to taking the club forward in the fight for a Champions League place but financial fair play rules will restrict the club from spending on a large scale.
Therefore, they need to get rid of players before recruiting. United’s priorities are a central defender and a new striker with England players Marc Guehi and Ivan Toney being regularly watched by United’s scouting team.
Vardy negotiating contract extension
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Leicester City are back in the Premier League after one season in the Championship and as a result, Jamie Vardy has held talks with the club about extending his contract to end his career in the elite league.
Jamie turns 38 in January but is still playing well and scoring as he did last weekend with a couple in City’s 3-0 win at Preston to secure the Championship title.
Technically, his current deal ends in June which means Leicester’s final game could be his 464th game for the club and possibly his last if he is not granted the extension.
Jamie has won the Premier League title with Leicester and the FA Cup and has scored 190 goals. I am told that fans are planning a tribute to Vardy this weekend at the King Power Stadium.
My team Ipswich are in second place and three points ahead of Leeds and a win or draw this coming weekend at home to Huddersfield will secure a return to the Premier League where they last appeared in 2002. My nerves will be on edge on Saturday lunchtime!
Players’ wages to be limited if the vote goes through
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Title leaders Manchester City almost lead the way with the second highest wage bill in the Premier League but neighbours United have the biggest bulging pay packets amounting to almost £4 million per week.
These stats were revealed when Premier League clubs agreed to a vote on June 6th to introduce a spending cap from 2025/26 which means clubs must limit money invested in transfers, wages and agent fees.
The amount spent will be no higher than five times the income of the Premier League’s bottom club’s earnings from televised games and prize money.
This is known as ‘anchoring’ and will replace the profit and sustainability rules which have cost clubs such as Everton and Nottingham Forest dearly in deducted points and fines.
Man City, Man United and Aston Villa are against the introduction of the spending cap. The result could mean financial deals given to highly paid players who move clubs will be limited.
Casemiro is United’s highest paid player earning £350k a week followed by Raphael Verane on £340k and Marcus Rashford on £300k.
At City, the highest-paid player is Kevin De Bruyne who earns £400k a week with Erling Haaland second earning £375k.
Ten Hag begs for patience
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Erik Ten Hag has begun the process of fighting for his job. He wants to remain as the coach at Old Trafford despite interest in him from Dutch club Ajax.
Manchester United owner Sir James Ratcliffe and his INEOS team plan big changes when this season ends and a big clear-out of players and Ten Hag is on the discussion list.
Ten Hag said that he is still in the process of rebuilding the squad and pointed out that players such as Garnacho, Hojlund and Mainoo are still learning their trade and adjusting to the high tense pressures of the Premier League.
Answering criticism from previous United icons Rio Ferdinand, Phil Neville, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, Ten Hag pointed out that in their playing days, they too went through rebuilding processes and the team went through difficult periods when results under Sir Alex Ferguson were poor.
He said, “I’m very impatient but we need patience, we’re building a team here and we need the experience.” The question is of course does Sir James Ratcliffe also have the patience to wait?
Denials from Chelsea and Liverpool about Amorim’s trip to London
Despite reports in the Portuguese press, there is no truth that Ruben Amorim and his advisors flew by private jet to London for talks with Chelsea and Liverpool.
Chelsea responded by stating that the flight had nothing to do with them and they did not charter the plane despite rumours about Mauricio Pochettino’s future at Stamford Bridge.
Likewise, Liverpool denied they had met with Amorim and are about to announce that Arne Slot is replacing Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Claims, again in the Portuguese press, that Amorim had been offered a £ 10 million signing fee by Liverpool and a three-year contract worth £ 10 million a year are not true.
Sad to see Thiago leave Stamford Bridge
I was sad to receive the news that Thiago Silva is leaving Chelsea at the end of the season.
This brilliant Brazilian defender wanted to stay in the Chelsea/Cobham area because his family are settled, his sons play for Chelsea’s young team and he genuinely loves the club.
He said this week, “Chelsea means a lot to me, I came here to only stay for a year and it ended up being four.” Regrettably the 39-year-old might not be seen in the Chelsea team again after sustaining a groin injury in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa. Thiago has played 151 times for the Blues and also won the FIFA Club World Cup.
Everton's takeover by 777 Partners is in difficulties
Everton are in the middle of a takeover by a company called 777 Partners however the buyout has hit a sticky patch.
The club is waiting for a further loan from the company of £15 million which would take their current investment up to £200million.
However, 777 Partners appear to be in some financial difficulties themselves and their low-cost airline Bonza, situated in Australia, have entered what is called voluntary administration.
Their planes have been repossessed which left passengers stranded at airports. That means the company are having financial problems and indications are that it might not be able to complete the Everton takeover which would plunge the club into deep financial difficulties themselves. Owner of the Toffees, Farhad Moshiri, told supporters that the deal was almost complete but that appears to be wrong and 777 Partners appear to have creditors lining up over unpaid bills.
There is also a possibility that Everton could struggle to pay their Premier League players unless there is a way out of the current financial problems.
On the brighter side for Everton…
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Defender Vitalii Mykolenko has confirmed he will not be having surgery on the ankle injury he picked up against Liverpool in their 2-0 derby victory with Liverpool.
The Ukraine international was helped off in pain and replaced by the evergreen Ashley Young. The left-back also missed the game against Brentford last weekend. Mykolenko assured his supporters that he should be fit for the European Championships this summer but he is unlikely to play for Everton in their remaining fixtures this season.
Trippier hopes to be back for Newcastle
Newcastle captain Kieran Trippier has flown to Dubai for warm weather training to heal his calf injury sustained on March 2nd. Kieran said he is planning to make a return to the team for the match against Brighton in a week.
He will not make the trip to Burnley but the Baggies still have matches against Manchester United and Brentford during which they hope to secure European football next season.
Mings is 'getting closer' to a return to Villa
Tyrone Mings says he is getting closer to a return after being injured on the first day of the season.
The Villa captain suffered a devastating ACL injury at Newcastle and coach Unai Emery has improvised brilliantly using Pau Torres, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa and Clement Lenglet.
Mings has been in Philadelphia with reconditioning specialist Bill Knowles and he confirmed that the treatment has worked very well. He said this week, “The knee is in a good place and the leg is in a good place. The first four months were very difficult and I could not do any rehab whatsoever which resulted in a lot of muscle wastage. The leg is now back to the size it was before the injury.
Bill and I are doing five or six hours a day working together in two or three sessions. Everything is just focused on the holistic approach to rehab.”