Manchester United

Manchester City is reportedly "weighing up" a potential offer for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba when he becomes available on a free transfer this summer.

ESPN's Rob Dawson reported Saturday that Pobga is "open" to switching to the blue side of Manchester, but fellow European giants Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain are viewed as the early favorites to land the 29-year-old France standout.

City will be in the market for a potential Fernandinho replacement during the summer window. The longtime Sky Blues midfielder confirmed his intention to play in his native Brazil next season.

"I want to play. I will go back to Brazil," he told reporters. "I decided with my family, which is the most important thing for me."

Pogba is going to come at a hefty price wherever he lands, but City believe the lack of a transfer fee on top of his salary demands make him a "manageable" target, per Dawson.

The midfielder has remained a key cog in the United attack this season with one goal and nine assists across 20 Premier League appearances. He failed to record a goal or assist in six Champions League matches, though.

He's expressed frustration about the lack of club success since he joined United in 2016.

"You have to be honest, the last five seasons have not satisfied me—really not at all," Pogba said. "This year it is dead, we won't win anything. Whether it is with Manchester United or at another club, I want to win trophies."

So it would qualify as a surprise if he returns to Old Trafford next season, especially given the interest from other clubs.

Pogba previously played for Juventus from 2012 through 2016, while joining PSG would represent a chance to play in his native France alongside some of his national side teammates.

City offers the chance to remain in the Premier League, but it's unclear whether that ranks on the star midfielder's list of desires as he heads toward the transfer market.

For now, the Sky Blues are focused on trying to hold off Liverpool for the league title. They lead by one point with four matches to play.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be back in the Manchester United squad for Saturday's Premier League match against Arsenal, his first appearance since announcing the death of his son during childbirth on Monday.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is available again; he has been training with us," manager Ralf Rangnick told reporters.

Ronaldo's announcement alongside partner Georgina Rodriguez noted that she gave birth to a twin baby girl.

"We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time," he said. "Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you."

Ronaldo was absent for United's 4-0 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday in order to care for his family. During the match, supporters from both teams paid tribute to Ronaldo, including the Liverpool fans singing club anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" to show their support for the Portuguese star.

Ronaldo said Thursday he and Rodriguez had returned home.

United are sixth in the Premier League table and three points behind Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, who each have a game in hand, in the race for fourth, the final UEFA Champions League qualification spot.

Ronaldo's return is likely to provide a boost since his 15 goals in the Premier League are the most at the club.

Authorities in England are investigating a bomb threat against Manchester United star Harry Maguire.

"On Wednesday April 20, Cheshire Police were called to reports of a bomb threat at an address in the Wilmslow area," law enforcement said, per ESPN. "No evacuations took place, but as a precautionary measure a police explosives dog has attended the address this afternoon, Thursday April 21, to conduct a search of the gardens and surrounding area."

The Red Devils are coming off a comprehensive 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in another setback in a frustrating season. With five matches to play, the club sits sixth in the league, three points behind Tottenham for the final UEFA Champions League qualification spot (Spurs have one game in hand).

Maguire is the United captain, and the Guardian's Jamie Jackson noted he "has been the subject of abuse from fans in stadiums and on social media regarding his form for United this season." 

A spokesperson for Maguire said the veteran defender "will continue to prepare" for Manchester United's Premier League fixture against Arsenal on Saturday despite the recent threat.

Manchester United announced Thursday it has signed Ajax manager Erik ten Hag to a three-year contract to take over its coaching staff at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

Ten Hag, who will remain with Ajax until season's end, will be under contract through June 2025 with an option for an additional year.

"It is a great honor to be appointed manager of Manchester United, and I am hugely excited by the challenge ahead," he said. "I know the history of this great club and the passion of the fans, and I am absolutely determined to develop a team capable of delivering the success they deserve."

Ten Hag was a defender for multiple Dutch clubs during a playing career that spanned from 1989 to 2002. His first managerial job came in 2012 with then-Dutch second-tier side Go Ahead Eagles.

After leading Go Ahead to the Eredivisie, Ten Hag moved to Germany to coach Bayern Munich's reserve side. He returned to the Netherlands in 2015 to manage Utrecht before taking over at Ajax in 2017.

He's guided the Godenzonen to a pair of Eredivisie titles, and they sit atop the league table with five matches left in the current campaign. They are four points clear of PSV Eindhoven in the title chase.

Ten Hag said it was important to settle his future now so that he could focus his energy on the remainder of Ajax's season, per ESPN's Rob Dawson.

"But I only have one interest now, and that's these last five games," he said. "I want to finish my time here on a positive note, by winning the league. By doing so, we'll qualify directly for the Champions League. Ajax belongs there."

Once that challenge is complete, he will face the task of trying to deliver Manchester United its first Premier League title since the 2012-13 season.

The Red Devils have struggled to find a suitable replacement for the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired after their most recent title success. Ten Hag will become the club's fifth full-time manager since Ferguson's departure.

Sources told Dawson that Ten Hag provided a "compelling long-term vision" during his interview with the club.

United is sixth in the Premier League table with 54 points but still has a chance to earn a top-four spot and, with it, a UEFA Champions League berth. It must pass Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal (57 points each) to do so.

Tuesday's Liverpool-Manchester United match featured a tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo in the wake of his infant son's death. 

Players for both clubs wore black armbands during the game. 

Fans gave their respects when they began singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the seventh minute, a tribute to Ronaldo's jersey number. 

Ronaldo and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, announced Monday on Twitter that their son died:

The couple announced in October that Rodriguez was pregnant with twins. They later revealed the twins they were expecting included one boy and one girl. 

Ronaldo and Rodriguez previously had one child together, Alana Martina, born in 2017. The twins were born Monday, and the couple's statement said the birth of their "baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness."

Ronaldo was away from the team for Tuesday's game. 

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo and his girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez, announced the death of their baby son Monday. 

Ronaldo announced in October that he and Rodriguez were expecting twins. 

Ronaldo has five other children—11-year-old Cristiano Jr., four-year-old twins Eva and Mateo, four-year-old Alana Martina and his newborn baby girl. 

On April 3, he posted an image of Rodriguez and his children on Instagram with the caption, "Family is everything."

Manchester United and Ronaldo's teammate, Marcus Rashford, expressed their condolences to Ronaldo on Twitter:

The 37-year-old, who spent six years with Manchester United between the 2003-04 and 2008-09 seasons, returned to the Premier League club this season after stints with Real Madrid (2009-10 to 2017-18) and Juventus (2018-19 to 2021-22). 

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner and five-time Champions League winner has scored 15 goals and added three assists for United in 26 Premier League games (23 starts) this season. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is looking to make amends with a young fan whose phone he allegedly smashed following Manchester United's 1-0 loss to Everton on Saturday. 

In a post on Instagram, Ronaldo offered to give the fan tickets to an upcoming match at Old Trafford:

It’s never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing. Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game. I would like to apologize for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair-play and sportsmanship.

Video footage after the match appeared to show Ronaldo hitting something as he and the rest of his United teammates were talking to the locker room. 

Per Sky Sports, Manchester United said they are looking into the situation. 

Saturday marked Ronaldo's return to the team after he missed last week's draw against Leicester City due to an illness. 

The Red Devils are winless in their last three matches, including a 1-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on March 15 that eliminated them from the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16. 

Ronaldo has been held scoreless since a hat trick against Tottenham on March 12.

The 37-year-old didn't specify the date for the fan to attend a United match as his guest. Manchester United's next home contest is on April 16 against Norwich City. The club doesn't play at Old Trafford after that until May 2 against Brentford. 

Ronaldo returned to United in August after spending the previous three years with Juventus. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner played for the club from 2003 to 2009. He scored 84 goals in 196 appearances, winning three straight Premier League titles (2006-09) and the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League. 

The Red Devils are in seventh place in the Premier League with 51 points (14-9-8).     

Manchester United is reportedly looking into allegations Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a fan's cell phone as he walked off the pitch following a 1-0 loss to Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Per Sky Sports' Lyall Thomas, Manchester United is aware of the allegation and reviewing footage shared by @evertonhub.

Manchester United's UEFA Champions League qualification hopes are firmly on the brink after a loss to Everton, which sits in 17th place and is in danger of being relegated.

United has won just one of its last five matches and now sits in seventh place.

They are six points behind fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur, which holds the final Champions League qualification spot and also has a game in hand. Manchester United has just seven matches remaining. 

Ronaldo did not have a good match. He picked up a yellow card in the 87th minute after kicking the ball away in frustration and didn't get a shot on goal until stoppage time in the second half. 

It made for a frustrating day for Ronaldo and United, and goalkeeper David de Gea expressed his blunt assessments to BT Sport (h/t Sky Sports).

"It's a disgrace from us, to be honest, we should win the game," de Gea said. "We don't create, that's the problem. We don't even create proper chances to score. I don't know what to say, to be honest."

United's next game is at home to another relegation-threatened team, Norwich City, next Saturday.

Manchester United are expected to hire Erik ten Hag as their next manager, according to ESPN's Mark Ogden and Rob Dawson.

The Ajax manager would take over for Ralf Rangnick, who was appointed on an interim basis following the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Ogden and Dawson reported Manchester United narrowed its list of finalists to Ten Hag, Paris Saint-Germain's Mauricio Pochettino, Spanish national team coach Luis Enrique and Sevilla's Julen Lopetegui.

Ten Hag got his first managerial appointment at Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherlands' second division. He guided the club to promotion to the Eredivisie.

After working a little over two years at FC Utrecht, the 52-year-old took charge of Ajax in December 2017. Ajax has won two Eredivisie titles and reached the 2018-19 Champions League semifinals under his watch. The Amsterdam giant is poised to lift another league title as it sits four points clear of second-place PSV. 

While Ten Hag has proven himself as a manager, many wonder whether he can succeed at Old Trafford.

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal, who spent two seasons as the Red Devils' manager, called Manchester United a "commercial club" and advised Ten Hag to go elsewhere:

It was one thing for David Moyes to flame out after one year in charge, because succeeding a legend like Sir Alex Ferguson is an almost unwinnable situation. The fact that United has churned through Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and then Solskjaer speaks to the structural problems plaguing the club, though.

There's no long-term vision, as evidenced by going from a manager in Van Gaal, who emphasizes possession and methodical attacking, to another in Mourinho who's the antithesis of those ideas.

Big-money transfers such as Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Donny van der Beek, and Harry Maguire also came in and failed to meet expectations.

Hiring Ten Hag could represent making the necessary changes to alter United's trajectory.

While a worthy candidate, he's not necessary a headline-grabbing appointment in the way Pochettino or Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel would've been, nor did he have a decorated playing career.

According to the Independent's Miguel Delaney, Ten Hag also communicated how "he believes the job is a five-year project." He understands Manchester United's issues won't be resolved by signing a few players in the summer.

United's hierarchy would appear to agree by naming him as Rangnick's replacement. The first test as to whether anything has actually changed will come if and when the club encounters a few bad results early in the 2022-23 season.

A teenager in England was sentenced to six weeks in jail for racially abusing Manchester United star Marcus Rashford on Twitter.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Justin Lee Price posted a racist tweet on the social media platform in July after England lost to Italy on penalties in the final of the 2021 European Championship.

Price pleaded guilty to one count of sending a grossly offensive message by public communication network.

"Price targeted a footballer based on the colour of his skin and his action was clearly racist and a hate crime," CPS representative Mark Johnson said. "Those who racially abuse footballers ruin the game for all. I hope this case sends out the message that we will not tolerate racism, and offenders will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

England and Italy went to a penalty shootout after playing to a 1-1 stalemate through extra time. Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their penalties to seal the Three Lions' defeat.

All three players were targeted on social media in the immediate aftermath of the result. The Athletic reported that a mural of Rashford in Manchester, England, was defaced as well.

The English Football Association issued a statement saying it "strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media."

Months earlier, Rashford forwarded racist messages he had received to local authorities in the wake of Manchester United's loss to Villarreal in the final of the Europa League.

The problem hasn't been isolated to Rashford or other members of the England national team. Research completed by the Professional Footballers' Association found that online racist abuse of players increased during the 2020-21 campaign and more than 75 percent of accounts responsible for the abuse were still active, as of July 2021.

In February 2021, the Premier League shared an open letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from a group of English football officials asking for more to be done to curb abuse on social media.