Manchester United returned to pre-season training on Monday with new manager Erik Ten Hag in charge after his move from Ajax.
The Dutchman has a huge job on his hands to turn United around, but he made clear which players he was interested in bringing to Old Trafford from his first meetings in Amsterdam with the club’s football director John Murtough.
Ten Hag’s number one target is Frenkie de Jong and negotiations have stepped up, with United and Barcelona getting close to a deal which will see Dutch international midfielder move from Camp Nou to Old Trafford.
Representatives of both clubs have met several times, first when Matt Judge, the outgoing United negotiator, and Murtough met Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff from Barcelona months back.
Murtough has been leading all United’s transfer activity, the man responsible for getting what’s best for the club and the team after years of profligacy in the market.
Not every United fan is patient, but Murtough has been determined not to rush into paying outrageous demands and agents’ fees to those who think United are desperate.
Judge is working through the final stages of his notice before Tom Keane, brother of former United footballers Will and Michael, joins as a consultant until the end of the transfer window.
With De Jong, talks have intensified in recent weeks with United firmly understanding that Barcelona are willing to sell the player. United put an initial offer in for the 25-year-old at the start of last week and a second one at the end of last week.
Manchester United 2021/22 season ratings
De Jong has been happy living in Barcelona and playing for Barcelona, who he joined for a €75 million fee in 2019, but Barca will let the former Ajax man go.
Their willingness is not a judgment against him and his coach Xavi likes him as a player and a person. But Barcelona want money in the bank. They have considerable debts, their own summer transfer plans and a surfeit of talented midfielders. It would be far more acceptable to their fans to sell De Jong for top money rather than youngsters Pedri or Gavi.
United’s latest offer is believed to be €63m, with achievable bonuses which could take the total deal to €80m. Barcelona were initially keen to recoup the full fee they paid for the player who was man of the match in their 4-0 win against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu in March.
Barcelona also asked about the availability of central defender Harry Maguire, but Ten Hag wants to work with the England international and United have no interest in selling him.
Barcelona’s central defence has been an issue for the club, with top-earner Gerard Pique now 35, while Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet are expected to leave having been unable to establish themselves in the side.
Oscar Mingueza has not been consistent enough, the Catalan Eric Garcia was signed from Manchester City and is highly rated, but he is only 21 and was often criticised last season. The Uruguayan central defender Ronald Araujo, 23, was one of Barcelona’s best performers last season.
United have also made an offer to 115-cap Danish international Christian Eriksen, 30. Another Ajax graduate, he played with Spurs and Inter Milan before resuming his career with Brentford in 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark in Euro 2020. Eriksen is considering United’s offer.
United have also received an approach from Fulham for midfielder Andreas Pereira. The Belgian-born Brazilian midfielder, who has been a success on loan at Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, is expected to attract a fee of £10m. He is interested in the move back to the Premier League.
United have another Brazilian on their radar, the Ajax winger Antony, 22, but the high price remains an issue. Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Lee Grant, Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard have all departed, while goalkeeper Dean Henderson has agreed to go on loan to Nottingham Forest.
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Kanye%20West
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
FORSPOKEN
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Diablo%20IV
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Starfield
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The five pillars of Islam
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')
Liverpool 1 (Lallana 84')
Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Stage 2 results
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04
4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates
5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation
General Classification
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16
4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17
5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NBA FINALS SO FAR
(Toronto lead 3-2 in best-of-seven series)
Game 1 Raptors 118 Warriors 109
Game 2 Raptors 104 Warriors 109
Game 3 Warriors 109 Raptors 123
Game 4 Warriors 92 Raptors 105
Game 5 Raptors 105 Warriors 106
Game 6 Thursday, at Oakland
Game 7 Sunday, at Toronto (if needed)
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5