PFA NOMINATION ANNOUNCEMENT
Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been nominated for the PFA Player of The Year Award. He joins Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante, Alexis Sanchez, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku. Kante is the bookmakers’ favourite to win the accolade this season after failing to make the top-3 last season, despite leading Leicester to the title. The accolades will be given out on April 23rd at the Grosvenor’s House in London.
SECURITY CONCERNS
An armed police escort will shadow the United team bus between the team hotel in Anderlecht and the stadium tonight. The concern comes after the Borussia Dortmund bus was involved in a bomb attack, prior to their fixture against Monaco in the Champions League. The escort will be surrounded by helicopters and snipers. The security provided will be unprecedented for a sports team in Belgium.
IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has warned David De Gea to shelf all thoughts of a potential move to Real Madrid, at least until the end of the season. The Spaniard has been linked with a move to the Spanish Capital for quite some time now. De Gea made uncharacteristic errors in United’s matches against West Brom and Everton, which has led to some questioning whether or not the shot-stopper is focusing on a strong finish to a season. Manchester United boss Mourinho insisted: “I am not interested in the speculation. If the player is, he shouldn’t be because we are playing for very important things and every match for us is crucial. Every match demands from every one of us total focus. I don’t see any problem related to this.”
THE SQUAD FOR ANDERLECHT
The Manchester United squad to face Anderlecht flew out of the country last night. The squad that travelled are:
David de Gea, Sergio Romero, Joel Pereira, Antonio Valencia, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Axel Tuanzebe, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind, Luke Shaw, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
POGBA SPEAKS OUT
Paul Pogba has hit back at critics who confuse him for an attacking player and says he shouldn’t be judged on how many goals he scores. The most expensive player in the world has asked people to forget about his price tag while addressing the media ahead of United’s game against Anderlecht in the Europa League quarter-finals. Pogba said: “I think about myself on the pitch and doing good for the team, that is it. People judge me for not scoring goals but that’s football, the transfer is something else, on the pitch is something else. I am doing a job, I’m a midfield player and sometimes people think I’m an attacking player. When I am on the pitch I am serious and I want to win.”