The telegraph
Manchester United begins second wave of elimination from the squad
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signaled the start of the second wave of his elimination at Manchester United on Wednesday, when defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah completed a £ 1.8 million transfer to Bayer Leverkusen. United reached the top of the Premier League on Tuesday night thanks to a 1-0 win over Burnley and could extend their lead over Liverpool to six points on Sunday if they become the first team to win at Anfield in the first division. for almost four years. Solskjaer hopes to speed up his rebuilding at Old Trafford this year with two or three more quality additions, while changing the dead wood he has been gradually filtering since taking over in December 2018. Fosu-Mensah became the last victim when the Dutch defender joined Leverkusen for a three-and-a-half year contract that links him to the German club until June 2024. The 23-year-old made 30 appearances for United’s senior national team after his transfer from Ajax in 2014, did not survive the last planned revision Solskjaer. Nigeria striker Odion Ighalo, who signed an emergency loan last February, will leave Old Trafford when his loan expires on January 31. United are open to offers from defender Marcos Rojo and goalkeeper Sergio Romero this month, although the Argentine pair will leave at the end of the season when their contracts expire if they cannot guarantee changes during the winter window. Rojo – who has only started five league games since winning a new contract almost three years ago – has attracted some interest from Boca Juniors, but although clubs are evaluating moves, the costs involved will have to work. Despite reports of Nice loan interest to Jesse Lingard, United have had no contact with the Ligue 1 club and are not pushing the England midfielder out the door this month, with Solskjaer seeing that he can still have a useful role in the team. However, Lingard can be encouraged to seek change in the summer, when the 28-year-old tries to revive his decadent career. United will also hear offers from Phil Jones, who has not played for the first team in a year, even though the history of terrible injuries from England’s midfield and £ 120,000 a week in salaries does not make it easy to change this summer unless let him indicate a willingness to move forward in an attempt to relaunch his own stagnant career. Right-back Diogo Dalot and midfielder Andreas Pereira, currently on loan at AC Milan and Lazio, respectively, are two more players that United should look for permanent buyers. Amad Diallo finally arrived in Manchester on Wednesday after receiving a visa after his projected £ 37.2 move from Atalanta. United are initially paying £ 18.2 million for the 18-year-old Ivory Coast winger, who should initially gain experience in English football with the club’s Under-23s. United took a similar approach with Facundo Pellistri, another teenage winger hired on the last day of October. Meanwhile, midfielder Nemanja Matic demanded full concentration against Liverpool, as United were trying to get 10 wins out of 12 in the league. “We played 17 games [and] we are at the top of the table. It shows something, ”he said. “We haven’t played five or six games and it could be said that maybe it’s luck. But after 17 games, it is definitely not luck, there is definitely quality. “But we cannot relax, we need to concentrate until the end – to go game by game. In football, the next is always important; the next is the biggest final and we’ll see. “