Manchester United
Premier League • England
Man Utd contacted by Prem rival for win-win loan of star with ‘freakish’ stats
Man Utd and Leicester could shake hands on a midfielder's loan switch
Leicester City at the behest of Ruud van Nistelrooy have contacted Manchester United over a loan signing in January, and multiple reports strongly suggest the green light will be granted.
Van Nistelrooy is a modern-day Man Utd legend having scored 150 goals in just 219 appearances for the Red Devils during a five-year span in his playing career. The Dutchman only served to enhance his reputation with a wholly positive spell as interim manager at Man Utd in the aftermath of Erik ten Hag’s sacking.
Leicester saw fit to bring Van Nistelrooy on board and the Foxes boss is now wrestling with how to keep his side in the Premier League.
A relegation scrap looks inevitable, with Leicester currently sitting 18th in the table having lost four on the spin.
But according to a fresh update from Mail Online, Van Nistelrooy aims to use his contacts at Old Trafford to secure a canny loan signing.
The report claimed Leicester have made official contact with Man Utd regarding a loan signing for the upcoming winter window. The report did not specify who the target was, though three other outlets have.
All three of the MEN, Caught Offside and The Sun claim the player in Van Nistelrooy’s sights is defensive midfielder, Toby Collyer.
Toby Collyer loan a win-win for all
The 20-year-old made his first-team debut for Man Utd during the Community Shield clash with Manchester City at the beginning of the season.
Collyer – who both the MEN and Sun state has produced ‘freakish’ running stats in training bettered only by Bruno Fernandes – has not kicked on since his debut.
He’s made just two more appearances for the senior team and made no secret of his desire to greatly up his minutes tally in October.
Speaking via Man Utd’s official club media, the England Under-20 international said: “[I want to] just to get as many minutes as possible this year.
“Honestly, just get as many minutes, just keep improving and just take each day as it comes. Don’t look too far ahead, just stay in the present.”
Collyer may well get that opportunity at Leicester and the MEN strongly suggested Man Utd would be open to accepting a loan proposal. Key to that claim is the presence of Van Nistelrooy.
The Leicester boss worked closely with Collyer during his stint as Ten Hag’s assistant and then United’s interim manager. As such, it stands to reason Collyer would be in good hands if making the move and would be afforded the extra game-time he craves.
A deal appears to be a win-win for all involved, with Leicester aiding their survival push, Man Utd seeing a rising star given more minutes, and Collyer potentially featuring far more regularly than he otherwise would at Old Trafford.
Crucially, the MEN and Sun noted Man Utd have zero intention of selling Collyer outright. That likely means any loan deal would not contain an option or obligation to buy.
Latest Man Utd news – Shearer’s advice / Rashford revelation
In other news, the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer, Alan Shearer, has given Man Utd a piece of transfer advice.
“Where do you start?” Shearer said in an interview with the Daily Mirror when asked how Amorim goes about fixing Man Utd and steering them away from the lower reaches of the table. “Without a doubt, United need a top striker, I’ve made my feelings clear on that for a long time now.
“They could go out and spend a load of money on Viktor Gyokeres, Amorim obviously knows him really well.
“He said that he wouldn’t go back to Sporting to take them out, but that may change. Ultimately, they need players all over the park, one of the important ones is the position I played in and for me, they need a top-class striker.”
Elsewhere, trusted Man Utd reporter, Andy Mitten, has revealed where the blame for Marcus Rashford’s implosion at Man Utd truly lays.
“Every previous manager has had issues with Marcus Rashford,” Mitten sensationally revealed.
“I’ve spoken to them. They’ve told me in confidence going back years and years and years.”
The fact Rashford has butted heads with all of his previous managers – many of which deployed wildly differing styles of man-management – certainly suggests Rashford and not the managers were the problem.
Rashford has played under five different permanent managers during his Old Trafford career – Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and now Amorim. Ralf Rangnick was also at the helm for around six months, though was officially listed as an interim manager.