Manchester United

There are just three days left in the January transfer window, so here's your latest round-up of the best Manchester United transfer gossip to drop so far:

• United are considering appointing Ralf Rangnick as their permanent manager after a promising start to his interim spell in charge. (Sun), external

• However, the Athletic (subscription required), external reports that United have stepped up their search for a new boss, with Paris St-Germain head coach Mauricio Pochettino, Ajax manager Erik ten Hag, Spain boss Luis Enrique and Sevilla's Julen Lopetegui all under consideration.

• Meanwhile, midfielder Paul Pogba has not told the club if he wants to stay beyond this season, when his contract expires. The 28-year-old is wanted by PSG, Real Madrid and Juventus. (90 min), external

• Cristiano Ronaldo's representatives have told the club that the 36-year-old will look to leave in the summer if the club fail to qualify for next season's Champions League. (Sun), external

You can also get all the best transfer chat via our gossip column here and track every done deal throughout January here.

How do you feel about Manchester United's January business? Have your say here.

Catch up with all the latest transfer news by tuning into BBC Radio 5 Live's Transfer Gossip Daily podcast on BBC Sounds.

The number 10 role has been played by so many greats of the game it makes it one of the most iconic positions in football.

Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will return in the spring with their latest series of BBC Match of the Day: Top 10, ranking their top 10s from an assortment of topics across the Premier League era.

You can choose your top three from a shortlist and the trio will see your choices before they record the pod.

Three United players from past and present feature on this list of the greatest number 10s:

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney exploded onto the Premier League scene as a 16-year-old at Everton before joining Manchester United in a deal worth £27m.

While he started out with the number eight jersey, Rooney took the number 10 when Ruud van Nistelrooy left United in 2007 and retained it for the next 10 years, although it was in the latter part of his career where he featured more prominently in the deeper role synonymous with the shirt number.

He left Old Trafford in 2017 to re-join Everton for a season, departing Manchester United after 559 games for the club and a record 253 goals.

Bruno Fernandes

He joined in 2020 from Sporting Lisbon and hit the ground running. In his first season, he scored eight goals in just 14 games to help United into the Champions League places and continued that great scoring form the following campaign with 18 goals in the Premier League and 28 in all competitions.

It could be argued he is not a true number 10, but when he's on it, there are few midfielders who offer as much of a threat as Fernandes.

Paul Scholes

Not just one of the best-ever midfielders in the Premier League but arguably the world, Paul Scholes was admired by all the greats of the game.

More of a central midfielder than a traditional number 10, he could nevertheless do everything - and more - a player in that position could do.

Scholes spent two decades at Manchester United before retiring (after coming out of a previous, brief retirement) in 2013 with an incredible record of 11 Premier League titles, two Champions League wins, a Fifa Club World Cup, three FA Cups and two League Cups.

Have your say on the best number 10s to play in the Premier League

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Stone, BBC Sport

Manchester United's Donny van de Beek looks as though he will finally get his wish to restart his career away from Old Trafford this month.

The Dutchman is of interest to Crystal Palace and Valencia, with United expecting more inquiries before Monday night's deadline.

It does seem as though United will allow Van de Beek to leave if someone covers his wages.

Van de Beek arrived amid huge expectation in 2020 but has largely been ignored by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick.

The feeling is the former Ajax man lacks the physicality to excel in the Premier League.

Image source, Getty Images

Jesse Lingard's proposed move to Newcastle would be worth every penny of the £12m wanted by Manchester United if the Magpies avoid relegation, according to Miguel Delaney, chief football writer at The Independent.

The move looks set to collapse because of the financial demands of the Old Trafford club.

When asked if Newcastle's transfer window has been quieter than he expected, Delaney said: "I’m not that surprised because one of the issues is they have too much money.

"The Jesse Lingard story is indicative of the whole situation. The reason that deal hasn’t happened is because Manchester United have set such a high bonus for that deal to go through.

"So if Newcastle stay up and they sign Lingard, they have to pay Manchester United £12m. That’s what Manchester United want which is huge.

"Everyone knows how much money Newcastle have and he is a player that is better than a club being involved in a relegation battle. There is a fair chance that if Lingard went there he could keep Newcastle up on his own.

"He could score the goals they need and if that’s the case then that signing is worth a lot more than £12m. It’s really worth £100m.

"Everyone knows what Newcastle can become with this money. Ultimately they are one of Manchester United’s future competitors, so why would Manchester United or any club make it easy for them?"

Hear more on Newcastle's transfer window from 16'00 on BBC Sounds

Manchester United are about to get a new chief executive in the form of Richard Arnold who replaces Ed Woodward - but could a change of leadership herald a change in fortunes for one of the world’s biggest clubs?

The Sports Desk speaks to Peter Kenyon - who ran the club between 2000 and 2003 - who feels Arnold has "a tough job and a big job compared to any other in football".

Ian Sterling from the Manchester United Supporters Trust also tells the podcast that Arnold has shown a "willingness to engage".

Can Arnold restore United to its former glory?

Listen on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League is the most exciting and competitive league in the world. It attracts the greatest players from every corner of the globe with its financial muscle and high standard.

The Match of the Day Top 10 podcast will return in the spring but until then Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards need your help in picking the top three best Premier League players from 'the rest of the world'.

And, in today's top 10, there are three Manchester United players are on the list.

Park Ji-sung: A United legend who spent seven years at the club. The South Korea midfielder joined from PSV Eindhoven in 2005.

By the time he left to join QPR in 2012 he had a Champions League winner's medal and had won four Premier League titles, three League Cups and a Club World Cup.

Shinji Kagawa: The Japan international joined the Red Devils in 2012 from Borussia Dortmund and he scored on his home debut - a 3-2 win against Fulham on 25 August that year.

In March 2012 he made history by becoming the first Asian player, external to score a hat-trick in the Premier League in a 4-0 victory over Norwich.

Dwight Yorke: One of the great aspects of football in the 1990s was strike partnerships. There were many great pairings but few as good as Dwight Yorke and Andrew Cole at Manchester United.

The pair combined to fire United to the Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, with Yorke finishing as the league top scorer with 18 goals. Yorke scored 48 goals in 96 Premier League games for United before joining Blackburn in 2002.

Have your say on the three best Premier League players from the rest of the world

Bill Rice, BBC Radio Manchester

While all the talk has been about Jesse Lingard's proposed move to Newcastle, he is not the only Manchester United player looking to move this window to get game time elsewhere.

Amad Diallo is one who needs to be playing - the 19-year-old having made just nine appearances for the Reds since joining from Atalanta for £19m a year ago.

Unlike Lingard, though, Amad is one for the future, and so his loan to Rangers until the end of the season is with no option to buy in the summer.

The Ivory Coast winger has started just once for United this season, and so the opportunity to play and continue his development north of the border made sense for all involved.

Image source, Getty Images

Sam Peoples, United Peoples TV, external, The Peoples Person, external

January is a tough window to do good business in but Manchester United desperately need a new holding midfielder to boost the squad. It's our Achilles' heel. We're Bagel FC - crisp around the edges with a gaping hole in the middle.

That's why the signing of Denis Zakaria would make so much sense for Ralf Rangnick. He'd cost seven million euros - a nominal fee in the modern game - he's a natural holding midfielder, whose pass completion puts him in the top 10% of midfielders in Europe, and he could be the perfect stop-gap solution.

Add in the fact United received an offer of £6.7m from Flamengo for Andreas Pereira, which was rejected, and Zakaria could be signed without any outlay.

Zakaria may not end up being what United need but, with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both looking at signing him, there's clearly a good player there and one United could sell for a profit in the summer if things didn't work out. If they did work out, it'd be a gem of a signing and a bargain.

The 4-3-3 system Rangnick has used against West Ham saw United have control of a game for the full 90 minutes, something we hadn't seen yet but it all revolved around Scott McTominay. Take him out, put Matic in and United would have been overrun.

Which players should you bring into your fantasy football teams ahead of a possible double gameweek?

Alistair Bruce-Ball, Chris Sutton and the Statman Dave bring you the answer - and much more - in this week's Fantasy 606 podcast.

Being the international break you've got plenty of time to ponder your selections - you have until 18:15 GMT on 8 February until the deadline.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United youngster Zidane Iqbal is poised for another memorable moment in his career with an international debut on the cards.

The 18-year-old has been called up by Iraq for the first time for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers, starting with tonight's match against Iran.

Iqbal made history in December by becoming the first British South Asian to play for United at senior level when he came off the bench against Young Boys in the Champions League.

The midfielder has a father from Pakistan and an Iraqi mother, so would also be eligible to play for England or Pakistan.

Speaking to manutd.com, external before his debut, Iqbal said: "Me choosing to play for Iraq doesn’t mean I am not a proud Mancunian or a proud Pakistani.

"I just feel this is the right opportunity for me as a player and the right step in my career but it doesn’t take away from the fact I am a Mancunian and a Pakistani as well."

"It will be such an honour to represent Iraq. My family are proud of me. It is going to be a forward step in my career, playing in World Cup qualifiers against Iran and Lebanon, which will be two big games. It will be a massive honour."

Image source, Getty Images

Anthony Martial's loan move to Sevilla is one of the best moves of the transfer window so far, says Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.

Speaking on the Euro Leagues podcast on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: "The most interesting or intelligent transfer of the market so far is Anthony Martial.

"Martial is useful. You look at his 11 games and one goal for Manchester United this season and think perhaps he is not as useful as I thought he was. But certainly somebody of top quality who is going to go to Sevilla for four months, he’s going to cost them 4.5m euros between the wages and a loan payment.

"There is no option to buy so there is an opportunity for him to show his talent and perhaps go somewhere else because he has a year and a half left on his contract.

"Lopetegui was impressed with him in the semi-finals of the Europa League. He was a nightmare for Sevilla that day more than any other striker Manchester United played.

"He’s heading to a Sevilla side that need that spark up front. They have the best defence in La Liga but only the sixth best attack. They are only four points off Real Madrid with 22 games played so the option to win the league is certainly there. With Corona who has just arrived from Porto, with Martial, it becomes very realistic."

Hear more from 27'30 on BBC Sounds

Manchester United are considering appointing Ralf Rangnick as their permanent manager after a promising start to his interim spell in charge. (Sun), external

Want more transfer news? Head to Thursday's full gossip column

Image source, Getty Images

Derby day, there's nothing quite like it.

Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards will return in the spring with their latest series of the BBC Sounds hit the Match of the Day Top 10 podcast, ranking their top 10s from an assortment of topics across the Premier League era.

One of those subjects will be derbies and we're giving you an early chance to get involved, by letting you pick your top three, with the trio seeing your choices before they record the pod.

Manchester United v Manchester City

For years it was Manchester United winning everything in sight and City looking on enviously just hoping for any trophy.

Now it is the opposite.

Legendary United boss Sir Alex Ferguson once called their rivals "noisy neighbours" but City have won eight trophies since United's last success in 2017.

Manchester United v Liverpool

The two most successful English sides, separated by only 32 miles, it was always destined to be a big rivalry.

Both sides have rivals from the same city in the Premier League, but for many - and not just fans of either team - this is the big one.

Liverpool are unbeaten in seven Premier League meetings going back almost four years.

Have your say on the best Premier League derbies, past and present

Bill Rice, BBC Radio Manchester

Manchester United's Premier League game against Brighton, which was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in the squad in December, has been re-arranged for Tuesday, 15 February, with a kick-off time of 20:15 GMT, so any travelling fans better have a hotel reservation or face a late night driving home.

That's the same night Manchester City go to Sporting and Liverpool are away at Inter in the last 16 of the Champions League. It's unusual for league matches to be played on European nights, but it's believed the Premier League reached an agreement with Uefa due to the number of fixtures needing to be re-arranged.

The Premier League has also confirmed all three of the Reds' fixtures in March have been selected for live TV coverage - the derby at City on Sunday, 6 March, the home game with Tottenham on 12 March, and the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday, 20 March - which will go a long way to deciding if United finish in the top four and book Champions League football for next season.

Jesse Lingard's proposed loan move to Newcastle is on the brink of collapse because the Magpies are unwilling to pay the loan fee Manchester United are demanding.

As things stand, the deal is off, but the Athletic's David Ornstein says there is still plenty of time for things to change.

Speaking on the Transfer Gossip Daily on BBC Sounds, he said: "Although it feels like there are only a few days to go, there are many hours in those days and things can change incredibly quickly.

"Jesse Lingard initially wanted to stay at Manchester United until the end of the season and fight his way back into Ralf Rangnick’s plans.

"It’s a World Cup year of course so that’s in the forefront of his mind. There’s very little sign that he’s going to enjoy much game time and he’s barely played at all.

"Therefore with Newcastle coming in very strongly for him with what I’m sure will be a very lucrative offer, and the England game time in mind and the chance of re-establishing himself in Gareth Southgate’s plans made him think ok, we’ll do this.

"On Tuesday he did have a conversation with Ralf Rangnick on the phone and he gave him his blessing to join Newcastle or to leave on loan.

"But Manchester United and Newcastle need to agree terms and the loan fee that Manchester United want is what many would feel is extremely high and Newcastle aren’t prepared to meet that.

"So unless Manchester United change their stance or Newcastle come up to that level, then it’s off."

Hear more on the latest transfer rumours on BBC Sounds