Gossip: Barcelona 'want Man Utd's Shaw', Mourinho 'calls Umtiti about summer move', West Ham 'want Silva'
Jose Mourinho never doubts himself. That’s what makes him a Special One. So from the moment he decided Luke Shaw was the Devil’s footballer, nothing was going to change his mind about it.
Not the fact that Shaw was once regarded as one of England’s most talented youngsters in a generation. Not Shaw returning to the Manchester United side with a string of impressive displays at left-back. Not even the fact that so many other clubs, from Tottenham to Chelsea to Newcastle, are apparently interested in signing the 22-year-old despite his lack of gametime and the fact Mourinho has repeatedly pointed out his inadequacies in public.
But when Jose reads today’s Mirror while shovelling spoonfuls of Alpen into his mouth, it’s just possible that a flicker of doubt may momentarily passes across his Special face. Because now Shaw is wanted by Barcelona.
The Catalan giants are reportedly “eyeing a shock swoop” for United’s out-of-favour Englishman this summer, with Mourinho’s underuse of the player putting him “firmly on Barca’s radar”.
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Barca do already have quite a good left-back, Jordi Alba, so Shaw wouldn’t necessarily walk into the team at the Nou Camp. But he should at least be spared the indignity of his manager constantly telling everyone how rubbish he is.
The La Liga leaders believe Shaw could be a “good value addition” to their squad and the players is apparently “aware” of their interest.
As for Mourinho, he will be fully aware that Barcelona are far superior to his Man Utd side with a much better football heritage. So could this make him wonder whether he has been wrong about Shaw all along? Even if it does, he is unlikely to admit it. The Special One does not admit!
United target Umtiti and Milinkovic-Savic
Jose has lots of other transfer targets to distract him anyway. The Express says Mourinho has “personally called” Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti to discuss a £52m summer move to Old Trafford.
Not sure how you can call someone without doing it personally, but in any case Umtiti was flattered. He was also quite pleased to be offered an £8m-a-year contract by Mourinho, which is more money than Barca are offering him.
United are also said to be “battling with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain” to sign Lazio’s 23-year-old midfield star Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The Mirror says the £90m-rated Serbian “plays a similar box-to-box role to Paul Pogba” and also has the advantage that Mourinho doesn’t hate him. Yet.
Meanwhile, Monaco have joined the race to sign United’s in-demand, soon to be free agent midfielder Marouane Fellaini. The Mail says the French champions will take on PSG and Besiktas to snare the hairy Belgian before the World Cup.
Elsewhere, Norwich City want £25m for their England U-21 midfielder James Maddison, who is being tracked by Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton (Sun), Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has declared that he will remain at Stamford Bridge next season even if he doesn’t sign a new contract in the summer (Telegraph) and West Ham will approach former Watford boss Marco Silva as a replacement for David Moyes (Express). The Portuguese is apparently excited by the possibility of making glamorous trips to Miami with his squad even if he loses all his games.
