Recently crowned winner of the Golden Boy Award, Jude Bellingham, has claimed that he grew up idolising Wayne Rooney.

Eyebrows were raised when Real Madrid splurged £88m on the 20 year old Englishman, however the youngster has taken it all in his stride and gone from strength to strength whilst playing in the pressure cooker of the Bernabeu.

The youngster won the Bundesliga player of the year last year as Borussia Dortmund came so agonisingly close to winning the league.

The England international also played a pivotal role for England in the Qatar World Cup in 2022 and has already become one of the most influential players for The Three Lions.

The former Birmingham City player has scored an eye-catching 15 goals in 17 games this season so far. To put this in context, the midfielder only scored 24 goals in 132 total appearances for Dortmund. (All stats according to transfermarkt.com)

Consequently, such form has seen the player rewarded with the Golden Boy award. After picking up the trophy, the England international claimed that his icon was Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney.

Bellingham has joined an impressive list of players like Rooney, Paul Pogba, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win the much coveted award.

According to goal.com, at the ceremony in Turin the midfielder stated, “It’s about trying to make my team and my country the best teams in the world. I think to be the best player in the world, that’s what you have to do, to help your teams win. To join that list is such a big honour”.

Interestingly for fans of the Red Devils, Bellingham asserted that, “For me, I would probably say that Rooney was my biggest influence growing up. Being from England, the way he played, the way he fought. But there are so many other players I’ve taken bits from.”

Despite idolising Rooney, the player actually turned down the chance to follow in his idol’s footsteps and move to United in 2020.

The Peoples Person reported that “former Birmingham City advisor Andrés Manzano has admitted that the overwhelming belief during his time at St Andrew’s was that Jude Bellingham would join Manchester United”.

The Red Devils pulled out all the stops to convince the player by inviting the player and his family for a tour of the club’s facilities and even organized a meeting with legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, it was all in vain as the Stourbridge-born midfielder eventually opted for the Bundesliga and the rest as they say, is history.

Nonetheless, it is widely expected that Bellingham will make a return to the Premier League in the future and while United showed interest in the player when he was on the move in the summer, the Old Trafford outfit was never really seen by many as a serious destination.

Liverpool and Manchester City have been seen as more likely future options for the magnificently talented young star, however, Red Devils fans will be hoping by the time the player is ready to come back to his home country, United will be back in the mix as serious contenders for the League and Champions League.

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Manchester United are opening the doors of Old Trafford to help local people who face difficult times in the winter months ahead.

There has not been much to shout about recently at Old Trafford with poor performances such as the 1-0 loss against Newcastle on Saturday night and Andre Onana’s chaotic goalkeeping versus Galatasaray.

The endless takeover saga has also left many United fans feeling exasperated by their club. Never mind embarrassing stories like the club facing legal action due to allegedly serving raw chicken at a hospitality event.

Therefore, it is refreshingly pleasant to report on something praiseworthy that the Old Trafford side is involved in at the moment.

The official club website has announced that “through the club’s winter campaign – ‘tis the season to be United – everyone at Manchester United is committed to having a positive impact on the lives of those in need and as temperatures fall and heating bills rise”.

The club’s restaurant, the Red Cafe, will provide “a space to stay warm, chat, have a hot drink and some snacks”. All free of charge of course. The area will be available every Monday in December and January from 17.00 to 20.00 GMT.

The club not only want the initiative to be warm in terms of temperature but also in sentiment as they want people who may be feeling lonely or worried over the festive period to feel comfortable and safe at the events.

The Manchester United Foundation is also aiming to provide support for children and young people amidst the cost-of-living crisis. Consequently, “the Foundation has invested £100,000 in over 22,000 warm clothing items for every young person across its 77 partner schools, in Greater Manchester and beyond”.

Donations from fans, club staff and male and female club players led to over 2,000 coats being received and have been distributed to local families in need, as well as those in Ukraine.

In addition, over 200 shoeboxes have been sent in by the Foundation’s staff and will be handed out to children as Christmas presents.

Collette Roche, Chief Operating Officer at Manchester United and Chair of the Manchester United Foundation said: “We want people who are struggling to know that they are not alone, particularly in our local community”.

She went on to say, “sadly, we also know many of our young people will be facing challenges” over the winter months and hopefully the Foundation’s work “will bring some joy and support to those in need”.

The club has always seen a charity as an important duty and despite the array of problems on and off the pitch, it is with great credit that Manchester United are giving back to those in need over the festive period.

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Just four months after being added to the ranks at Sarpsborg 08, he earned himself a big move to KRC Genk.

The Belgian outfit paid a whooping €5.2m for Bonsu Baah, who had only made 15 appearances up until then.

In those games, he had managed just one goal and two assists.

The 18-year-old has however had no difficulties in adapting to life at Genk so far.

Just this season in the Jupiler Pro League, Bonsu Baah has made 14 appearances for his side. He has one goal to his name. Already, he appears to be an important player for the team – it’s easy to see why Genk paid up for him.

In an interview with De Zondag (via SportWitness), the promising Ghanaian talent opened up on his football journey and how his path almost led him to United.

He said, “At the age of 14, I was allowed to go to an academy, the Shooting Stars, in Accra, and two years later, an agent brought me to Spain.”

“I was allowed to trial everywhere: at Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Manchester United… But because I was not yet 18, I couldn’t get a professional contract. It’s good that I have a lot of patience.”

The player added, “The fact that I can now also play here is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life.”

It’s anyone’s guess whether United are still keeping tabs on the youngster, especially with the club struggling in the right-wing position – an area of the pitch Bonsu Baah predominantly plays in.

What’s for sure is that if he continues on his current trajectory, it won’t be long until the top European clubs start taking notice.

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Following their disappointing draw against Galatasaray last week, United will almost certainly need a miracle to get out of Group A and make it to the next round of the Champions League.

At the moment, Erik ten Hag’s men sit bottom of their group with just three points. They’ll need to beat Bayern at Old Trafford and hope the fixture between Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen somehow ends in a draw.

Thomas Tuchel’s side have already qualified for the round of 16. During their game vs. Copenhagen, Bayern were not good and their performance saw the Superliga outfit clinch a crucial draw.

Bayern had nine goalscoring attempts in comparison to Copenhagen’s eight cracks at goal.

The Bavarian club had the chance to take the lead when Thomas Muller was brought down inside the opponent’s box, but the referee did not agree and so elected not to award the penalty.

This was noted by Buruk who slammed the Bundesliga champions for going easy on Copenhagen after they already secured their spot in the knockout stages of Europe.

Buruk remarked, “We were disappointed that they gave up points,”

“They rotated for the first time and it didn’t look like they wanted to win,”

The Galatasaray boss went on, “‘We want to win in Copenhagen and get our work done.”

” I have high expectations of Bayern for the last game against Manchester.”

Before meeting Bayern, United must first play Chelsea on Wednesday before taking on Bournemouth on Saturday. Both are home games.

The post “I have high expectations”: Galatasaray boss urges Bayern Munich to beat Man United in key fixture appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

The draw for the group stages of next summer’s European Championships in Germany took place in Hamburg over the weekend.

National teams learned their fate for the opening round and can now begin preparations for the highly anticipated competition.

Manchester United will be well represented at the tournament with a raft of players expected to be picked for their respective countries.

Some will even meet as early as the group stage with Denmark being drawn against England in Group C.

The game will be a repeat of the Euro 2020 semi-final which England eventually prevailed by two goals to one.

Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount will all hope to be part of Gareth Southgate’s squad that will line up against Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund’s Denmark.

Slovenia and Serbia make up the numbers in a group that both England and Denmark will expect to get out of.

Scott McTominay and Scotland have been handed the honour of opening the tournament against hosts Germany in a testing but mouthwatering first fixture.

The Scots will fancy their chances of getting out of Group A which is made up by Hungary and Switzerland.

Portugal are one of the favourites to lift the trophy after a perfect qualifying campaign.

Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot will be relishing the chance to help their country regain the crown they won in 2016.

Roberto Martinez men have been drawn alongside Altay Bayindir’s Turkey, plus Czech Republic and the winner of play-off path C – either Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan or Luxembourg.

United defender Tyrell Malacia is another expected to travel and the Netherlands have been placed in an exciting group made up of France, Austria and the winner of play-off path A: Wales, Finland, Poland or Estonia.

The full draw for the group stages is below, along with the playoff paths that will make up the respective unfilled places.

Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland

Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania

Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England

Group D: Netherlands, Austria, France, Play-off winner A (Wales v Finland, Poland v Estonia)

Group E: Belgium, Slovakia , Romania, Play-off winner B (Israel v Iceland, Bosnia and Herzegovina v Ukraine)

Group F: Turkey, Play-off winner C (Georgia v Luxembourg, Greece v Kazakhstan), Portugal, Czech Republic

Before then however, United players will need to be fully focussed on their club form having failed to get going since the start of the new campaign.

United host Chelsea in a crunch Premier League fixture at Old Trafford on Wednesday after a limp defeat to Newcastle United at the weekend.

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The narrative was once again in the focus after their limp loss to Newcastle, with players like Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial under the scanner.

However, they had all been theories as conjecture as experts and pundits wanted to understand why an expensively assembled squad had been underachieving for the last decade.

Now, a former player, who has seen it all happen, has spilled the beans in a remarkable interview.

In an interview with YU Planet, Nemanja Matic lifted the lid on the fallen standards at the club and how they surprised him.

The Serb said that coming from Chelsea, it was a huge difference in terms of professionalism.

Nobody was late for training at the London club but when he came to United, many players were.

He named two players in particular, whose names will surprise no United fan- Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho.

The latter is still at loggerheads with Erik ten Hag after calling out the manager in public due to being accused of precisely that- lack of professionalism.

Matic said that due to the sinking standards at the club, United had to create a five-man internal disciplinary committee to rein in the repeat offenders.

The state of the club can be summed up by his revelation that in a season, that committee collected a humongous £75,000 in fines just by players arriving late to training.

This really puts into new light the condition of the club and explains a lot about below-par performances by highly paid professionals.

Ralf Rangnick once said that this club requires open-heart surgery and while the manager might not be at his best currently, Matic’s comments confirm that he is the least of all problems at the club.

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Roy Keane’s trophy-laden spell at Manchester United ensured he will go down as one of the greatest players to have ever pulled on the.

The former captain was the driving force in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side that wrestled the balance of power of English football to United in the 90s and continued through until Keane and eventually Ferguson left the club.

The pair formed a formidable force at Old Trafford, winning the Champions League, seven Premier Leagues and four FA Cups together.

However, speaking on Sky Sports Super Sunday, Keane claims that he never enjoyed a close relationship with Sir Alex.

Keane insists he “didn’t believe” in being overly friendly with any of his managers and says it’s “down to personalities” as to how close the manager/player relationship becomes.

Opening up on his time with Ferguson, Keane believes that people have the wrong impression of the strength of the relationship and he was happy to get his work done without needing to be close to the manager.

“There was never any bond there, absolutely not. People like to say we had a good relationship, I think I had two or three really private conversations with the manager during my time at the club, it was a case of get on with it, do your job, go out and perform week in, week out, and be a good pro around the place,” said Keane.

The former midfielder added that he would have been “given the captaincy for a reason” but it didn’t mean he was having “cosy chats” with the United boss.

Keane finished by explaining why he didn’t see the benefit of getting close to any manager and that he was happy with the distance he kept with his seniors throughout his career.

“I’m glad I was never really close to a manager like that. Why get close when you know at some point they’re going to make tough decisions and, as I found in my experience when you think you’ve done well for them and they throw you under the bus anyway, but that’s for another day,” he said.

Keane was on form after United’s defeat to Newcastle at the weekend, letting rip at the lack of desire in Erik ten Hag’s side, picking out Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as repeat offenders.

United will need to dust themselves down after the shoddy showing on Tyneside with Chelsea visiting Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

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While Erik ten Hag’s side has lost by worse margins, far worse, in fact, the performance against the Magpies arguably merited a worse scoreline too.

Shorn of intent, desire, and will to win, it looked like United gave up in the face of Newcastle’s intense game and wilted far too comfortably.

Gary Neville has now joined the list of legends who have torn into the Red Devils for the uninspiring display.

Never one to hold back, Neville said he’s “bored” of watching Manchester United.

"I am tired of my own club."

Gary Neville says he has become bored of watching Manchester United following their poor performances in recent months pic.twitter.com/pbvR0zLf0R

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 4, 2023

He said that he’s “tired of my own club”, as United have lurched from one mediocre performance to another.

He can hardly be blamed, as the club has taken a huge step back from the progressive style of play and identity on display last season.

Armed with seven new signings this season, Ten Hag’s team look to have taken a huge step back and it is not clear what the manager wants from his team.

The team has scored just 16 goals in 14 league fixtures, and whenever they do start scoring freely, it looks to come at the cost of their defence, as seen in the Champions League.

The whole structure is not working, where one part falls off as soon as another is fixed.

Neville’s thoughts echo what Paul Scholes said, when the midfielder questioned the players’ character, going as far as to say that there are too many lazy players in the team.

With a trip away to Chelsea next on the agenda, who are starting to click, at least in the attacking sense, things could get worse for United.

The post Gary Neville says he’s “bored” of Manchester United after insipid display against Newcastle United appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

Manchester United entertain Chelsea on Wednesday night in what looks like a crucial game for Erik ten Hag and his troops.

Neither side is in flowing form but Chelsea have shown flashes of potential this season and will hope to cement their progress under Mauricio Pochettino with a noteworthy win at Old Trafford.

However, they will have to do so without captain Conor Gallagher who was sent off in the weekend win against Brighton at Stamford Bridge.

Gallagher has been a key cog in the Pochettino’s midfield wheel since the Argentine’s arrival in the summer and his absence will be a blow to visitors.

The 23-year-old has been almost ever-present for The Blues this season and stands as their most creative player, registering four assists in the league.

Christopher Nkunku is back in training for the away side and could replace Gallagher in the attacking-midfield role with Cole Palmer as another option.

In the red corner, United have midfield issues of their own with a trio of first-team players still unavailable from Ten Hag’s engine room.

Casemiro and Christian Eriksen are both nursing long-term injuries with Mason Mount highly unlikely to be named in the squad to face his former side.

18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo has emerged as an important player for United and despite only making two Premier League appearances, looks the most comfortable in possession of all Ten Hag’s available options.

Sofyan Amrabat is yet to put his stamp on United’s midfield and Scott McTominay’s form continues to be up and down but one of the two will start on Wednesday.

As ever, captain Bruno Fernandes will be United’s creative force and will need to be at his best against Chelsea’s mega-money duo of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.

Should United win the game they will move eight points clear of their big-spending opponents despite not being at their best since the start of the campaign.

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Manchester United fans did not only suffer viewing two leads being thrown away in Istanbul but also had to experience a series of amateur moments during their time in the stadium.

Freelance journalist, Matt Ford, claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that despite watching an enthralling 3-3 draw in a “in a brilliant city full of friendly and football-mad people”, the “whole thing was then tarnished” by UEFA’s incompetent treatment of travelling fans.

Manchester United’s army of away fans would already have been crushed to see their team throw away a two-goal cushion twice in the game to finish with a draw that leaves their qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

The journalist made a series of accusations against the European body’s handling of the situation in Turkey.

Went to Istanbul this week, watching #MUFC in a dramatic 3-3 draw in a brilliant city full of friendly and football-mad people.

Unfortunately, the whole thing was then tarnished by the latest episode of shit @UEFA treatment of travelling supporters.

Here we go again: pic.twitter.com/O0KEpNoSD8

— Matt Ford (@matt_4d) December 1, 2023

Ford claimed that the first botched moment of the night came when arriving at RAMS Park at the away end. He claimed that fans had to wait in “huge queues” in the rain for eight turnstiles, of which only six seemed operational.

Moreover, wooden delivery pallets were inexplicably lying on the floor, where everyone was tripping over them in the dark. However, when he and other fans got to the turnstiles the reason for the delay became clear.

The fiasco continued with printed tickets completely soaked and consequently, QR codes were not operational with many phones not even fitting in the scanners. The journalist claimed that this chaotic gridlock led to him and many others missing the start of the match.

The farce seemingly was never-ending, as no help or solutions were offered by the local stewards or police. Additionally, Ford claims that very few of them could communicate in English despite being an international event.

The journalist also lambasted United’s two stewards present claiming, they were “unhelpful”. After eventually making it through, fans were shepherded into a small single door, where police officers were aggressive and seemed “more intent on accosting people than checking tickets”.

It is then claimed that after being subjected to this, fans squeezed through to an area with a dripping roof causing puddles. It is a familiar sight for those who regularly go to Old Trafford.

Ford claims that he had missed the first 30 minutes of the game, which meant the score was already 2-1 to United after a blistering start to the game.

The nightmare continued after the match. The journalist asserted that away fans were held back 80 minutes after the game, which meant the last metros had just left and were provided with no information. This led to many fans being left stranded on the rain-soaked motorway, miles from the city. Apparently, there were also very few buses and this resulted in many being “at the mercy of rip-off taxi drivers”.

Matt Ford finished by exclaiming that the next time you watch a “shiny” production of UEFA matches on TV, take a moment to remember how the fans, who do the hard miles and spend their hard-earned cash, are treated like “farm animals”. He asserted, “In no other walk of life would you get away with it”.

The Galatasaray fans welcomed the Red Devils’ players with a “Welcome to Hell” message in the middle stand. The travelling supporters would probably argue they were the ones experiencing the true hell, not the playing staff.

No better atmosphere than The Hell.#UCL pic.twitter.com/CBXV5kFyt6

— Galatasaray EN (@Galatasaray) November 29, 2023

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