Fulham have made another bid for Scott McTominay, offering £23million for the Manchester United midfielder.
McTominay’s future at Old Trafford is up in the air once again after United rejected a £30m offer from West Ham last summer.
A year on, it’s understood that United will listen to bids of £25-30m for the Scotland international who has 11 months left on his contract, although United have the option to extend it by another year.
Fulham have made at least one other bid for McTominay who is also attracting interest from Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. The 27-year-old featured in United’s 3-2 win over Real Betis in San Diego in the early hours of Thursday.
United are looking to offload either McTominay or Casemiro this summer so they can sign a new defensive midfielder, with the club interested in Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte.
Scott McTominay has previously been targeted by Fulham but the opening offer was rejected
The midfielder featured in Manchester United's friendly versus Real Betis on Wednesday night
The club has a view to acquiring Paris Saint-Germain's Manuel Ugarte (pictured) should they offload either McTominay or Casemiro
Mount wants to start afresh
Mason Mount is looking forward to a ‘fresh start’ at Manchester United after a difficult first season at Old Trafford following his £60million move from Chelsea.
Mount made just 20 appearances and eight starts, largely due to a calf injury suffered in November. Now the 25-year-old midfielder is determined to make up for lost time.
‘I definitely feel this is a fresh start,’ he said at United’s base in Los Angeles. ‘I’m in a really good position at the moment so I can’t wait to get on that pitch and try to do the best I can. I’m really looking forward to it. I feel strong, I feel fit so we’ll keep going and keep working hard.’
Asked what he wants to achieve this season, Mount added: ‘A lot as a group and individually. We know what we can do and we showed it at the end of last season.
‘We definitely have a group that can win trophies, and that’s the most important thing. We’ll keep trying to do that and stay focussed on that goal because this is Manchester United and we need to set the bar as high as we can.
Mason Mount is optimistic about his renewed chances after a horror first season at the club
The former Chelsea player endured an injury-stricken debut season but now feels fit again
‘We know how high the bar is and now it’s time for us to perform but we’re ready for it. As many trophies as we can get and win as many games as we can. That’s our focus throughout the whole group. We’re definitely on the same page.’
United's hierarchy are charged up
Manchester United's new leadership team and coaching staff visited the training facilities at the LA Chargers NFL team in El Segundo suburb of Los Angeles.
New chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, club director Sir Dave Brailsford and technical director Jason Wilcox led the delegation along with United’s chief operating officer Collette Roche.
United boss Erik ten Hag was also given a tour of the state-of-the-art facility with his new assistant coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake, and goalkeeper coach Jelle ten Rouwelaar. They were joined by new first-team coach Andreas Georgson on his first day on tour after leaving his role at Lillestrom in Norway to join United’s staff.
The Chargers staff, including head coach Jim Harbaugh and kicker Cameron Dicker, spoke to the United delegation about the facility known as The Bolt, which covers 150,000-square-feet. United are hoping to gather information as they begin a £50million upgrade of their Carrington training complex.
Man United's hierarchy took a trip to the Los Angeles Chargers' training complex, The Bolt
Padres impact Snapdragon crowd
Andy Cole may have appeared at a promotional event with the San Diego Padres ahead of United’s game against Real Betis at the Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday, but Confidential understands that the baseball team were a little more reticent to push ticket sales for the match.
With the Padres taking on the LA Dodgers at 47,559-capacity Petco Park a few miles away on the same night, it appears they didn’t want to risk putting a dent in their own attendance.
It meant that the 26,248 crowd for United’s second game on tour was down on the 35,000 that can fit into the stadium – even less, in fact, than the crowd here a year ago when a United academy team faced Wrexham.
However, it’s understood that United’s new shirt sponsors Snapdragon, who have signed an initial three-year deal worth £175m, were happy with it being only two thirds full a fortnight after the All Blacks beat Fiji 47-5 in front of a crowd of 33,000.
A thinner crowd than usual took to the stands at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has grand plans for a rebuilt Old Trafford - which could cost as much as double Tottenham's 2019 revamp
Old Trafford costs set to rise
Plans to rebuild Old Trafford at a cost in excess of £2billion would mean Manchester United would be paying twice as much as Tottenham for a new stadium – even allowing for the inflation of construction costs.
A new survey estimates that the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cost the equivalent of £1bn when it was constructed in 2019, and the two next most expensive arenas – West Ham’s London Stadium, which was built for the 2012 Olympics, and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium which opened in 2006 – cost less than £500m.
With United hoping to build a new Old Trafford by 2030 if the project is financially viable, the increasing cost of construction and materials could push the final figure closer to £2.5billion. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona overspent on renovating the Bernabeu and Nou Camp.
A full list of the cost of Premier League stadia has been put together by InstantCasinos.com