Man Utd poised for January clearout with six stars set to leave

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 4 min read

Man Utd manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is set to hold talks with six fringe players within his first-team squad about leaving Old Trafford on loan or permanently in January.

The Red Devils have endured a tumultuous season in 2020/21, as although their Premier League campaign has been littered with a string of damaging results like the 6-1 home loss against Tottenham and the home defeat against struggling Arsenal, an improved run of form towards the end of the year has left them joint top alongside Liverpool.

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One of the reasons for the improved performances has been Solskjaer finally enjoying a more settled XI, as apart from a few positions and some routine rotation, he tends to use the same 14/15 players in his starting XI more often than not.

However, that has left a selection of players on the fringes of the squad, with some members of the first-team squad having not played a single minute in the Premier League.

Mail Sport reports that Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones, Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo, Brandon Williams, and Daniel James are all available to leave Old Trafford in the January transfer window, though Williams and James are likely to be on loan to aid their development.

For the other four, Man Utd are keen to move them on permanently, having previously failed to do so in the summer.

Sergio Romero

The Argentine goalkeeper has been desperate to leave the club for some time in order to get first-team football, and with Dean Henderson arriving back from his loan spell at Sheffield United he has fell further down the pecking order. Everton were interested in the summer as potential competition for Jordan Pickford, but they signed Robin Olsen from Roma instead.

Most recently, Brighton have been linked with a transfer, as have David Beckham’s Inter Miami.

Jesse Lingard

Due to being a former England international, Lingard still holds a decent reputation in the Premier League despite not playing a single minute of football in the league this campaign. He is now 28-years-old, and it has been clear for a while that he had no future with Man Utd, with the club encouraging him to move on to pastures now.

He’ll get a move, with Tottenham and Sheffield United linked recently.

Man Utd outcasts:

Phil Jones

Despite his shocking injury record, there are a host of clubs who would be interested in bringing in Jones to potentially tighten up a leaky defence.

A drop down to the Championship is a possibility, with Wayne Rooney’s Derby County mentioned, but that would only be a loan deal with Man Utd continuing to pay a large percentage of his wages – something they are not keen on doing at the moment.

Should he stay in the Premier League, the most likely destination is West Brom, as Sam Allardyce has already indicated his intention to bring in defensive reinforcements in January.

Marcos Rojo

Rojo hasn’t featured for Man Utd for over a year now, with the club trying hard to offload him in the summer to no success. The player, too, wants to leave, and Newcastle could provide him with the opportunity to continue his career in England, albeit away from Old Trafford.

The Argentine reportedly earns £100,000 per week at the club which has put off potential suitors in the past, so any move away would likely have to see him take a pay cut.