What needs to happen in the transfer window?published at 12:16
12:16
Image source, Getty Images
The transfer window opens on Sunday - albeit for 10 days initially, mainly so sides competing in the Club World Cup can get early business done - before reopening for the rest of the summer on 16 June.
Manchester United are prioritising the g of a new out-and-out centre-forward this summer, but appear to have lost the race to sign Ipswich's Liam Delap to Chelsea.
Meanwhile, the Old Trafford future of captain Bruno Fernandes is in doubt with interest from the Saudi Pro League.
Are there certain players you are desperate for United to sign, or an area of the squad that needs improving? Or maybe holding on to a key player is your biggest priority.
And what about sales - who needs to go?
So over to you... what names need bringing in and shipping out?
Ian: Massive respect for Bruno. He has had a difficult five years at Old Trafford with all the negativity surrounding the club but has shown his quality time after time. If he wants to move on who can blame him? Blame the people who run the club. United could sign three players with the money who fit into the manager's system. If they are sticking with the manager, that would be a positive way to go.
Daniel: For what he's given to the club over the past five years I think we owe him the choice to either stay or leave. He has literally carried the club since he was signed. I wish him all the best if he does leave.
Steve: If Fernandes goes, we will surely be relegated next season.
Russ: £80-£100m for a player who will be 31 in a few months is a no-brainer for a club needing to rebuild and with limited finances due to PSR.
Tayta: Thumbs up for the deal. First, Bruno gets to reset his career away from physical and mental stress of the Premier League while earning loads of money. Secondly Manchester United get money to reinvest. The rumoured money would be a godsend to help rebuild the team with players fit for the rigours of the Premier League. United are never going to get this kind of money for any player of this age profile in the next 20 years.
David: The Mainoo goal v Manchester City in the FA Cup final was assisted by Bruno. The move started with a beautiful from Rashford to Garnacho, then on to Bruno and finally Mainoo. Rashford is all but gone,. Garnacho is all but gone. Now we're talking about Bruno going, and possibly Mainoo. That move should have been the start of something special. Just what has gone wrong at Old Trafford?
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
POTY= The Manchester United player of the year award.
Sancho future hinges on Chelsea contract talkspublished at 11:47
11:47
Nizaar Kinsella BBC Sport football news reporter
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Chelsea are in contract talks to sign winger Jadon Sancho on permanent basis from Manchester United.
The 25-year-old is keen to stay at Stamford Bridge but it will require him to take a pay-cut from his deal at Old Trafford.
The Blues had already agreed an obligation to buy worth between £20m-£25m, as long as Chelsea finished above 15th place, which they easily achieved when finishing fourth and qualifying for next season's Champions League.
However, there is a way out of the deal through a £5m penalty clause payable to United should a failure to agree personal cause the move to collapse.
Sancho scored in the 4-1 win over Real Betis on Wednesday to help Chelsea win the Conference League, ending the season with five goals and 10 assists in 42 games.
What if... the season started in January?published at 11:32
11:32
Nicola Pearson BBC Sport journalist
As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Premier League season, we have been taking a look at some of the alternative ways the the table could have finished...
A Premier League season can sometimes be a tale of two halves.
Some come flying out of the blocks, while others are more sluggish starters.
The busy Christmas period can be a turning point with the arrival of the January transfer window feeling like a fresh start.
So what might have happened if the league season only start on 1 January?
Well, Pep Guardiola's title-winning machines would have picked up their fifth Premier League trophy in a row.
Playing one game fewer than actual champions Liverpool - who secured the title with four games remaining - they would have finished one point clear of the Reds, not withstanding Arne Slot's side slowdown in form after sealing the title.
City always seem to come good after January, but this time it was not enough to outweigh the torrid time they had from late autumn.
The rest of the top six is not too dissimilar to the final placings, although in this case, Aston Villa would have secured Champions League football and Brighton a Europa League spot in the absence of Chelsea - whose form nose-dived at the very beginning of the year.
And while the new year is a new start for some, it is less so for others.
That was the case for many of those down the bottom of the league.
The relegated trio would still have been relegated and Manchester United and Tottenham would still have ended up in the bottom six. West Ham find themselves one place lower after Wolves picked up form under Vitor Pereira.
So what does this tell us? If you wan to achieve your Premier League ambitions, it is about making sure you are there for nine months and not just from January.
Antony, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all left the club on loan in the past nine months - seeking to revitalise their careers.
But with the season now over and the transfer window set to open, will they spend the summer looking for the Old Trafford exit door?
All three players have had their fair share of success since leaving Manchester.
Sancho scored as Chelsea were crowned Conference League winners on Wednesday, Antony has become a hero at Real Betis and Rashford helped Aston Villa to a Champions League quarter-final and a sixth placed finish in the Premier League.
Whilst Rashford's season ended prematurely with injury, he still managed 11 goals in all competitions, with Antony on 10 and Sancho five - after his strike against Real Betis.
According to Opta stats from before the Conference League final, Rashford (0.41) and Antony (0.37) have a better goals-per-90 minutes average than any other forward players in the United squad.
In 26 matches since the latter ed Betis, the La Liga side have won 13 games and drawn eight, losing only five. In that time they have scored 52 goals, with Antony contributing to 14 of them, supplying nine goals and five assists.
Sancho and Rashford both have eight assists this season, with only Bruno Fernandes (18) and Alejandro Garnacho (10) of their United team-mates getting more.
Both Rashford and Antony ended the season tied with Garnacho and Amad Diallo on three goal-ending carries each - the t highest in the entire United squad.
Image source, Getty Images
While Sancho was let go by previous boss Erik ten Hag, it was Ruben Amorim who allowed both Antony and Rashford to leave on loan in January.
The former played just 252 minutes in 15 games under the new boss before departing for Spain.
As for Rashford, a disciplinary issue in December saw him dropped from the squad, before his own loan move in January.
Amorim said at the time: "I couldn't get Marcus to see the way you're supposed to play football and to train the way I see it."
"It's something that you feel as a coach and as a player. It's quite normal. It happened with a lot of coaches," he added.
All three still remain contracted to United, but have not gone on the club's post-season trip of Asia.
It has not been ruled out that they could be moved on to help ease financial pressure, ahead of a big summer for Amorim and the clubs owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
What do you think?
Use our poll below to decide who you want to keep.
Amad's tricky press conference appearancepublished at 15:24 29 May
15:24 29 May
Simon Stone in Hong Kong Chief football news reporter
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Manchester United wide-man Amad was put in a difficult position in today's pre-match news conference in Hong Kong.
The Ivorian is not the loudest or most expansive talker in the United squad.
Nevertheless, he was asked to speak at a time when a social media post has been ed showing him reacting to a fan as he left the team hotel on Thursday morning.
United officials told media before the conference Amad had reacted after his mother was called names – but not racially abused.
Amad was clearly uncomfortable dealing with the issue and avoided the specifics, preferring instead to say he wanted to bring 'joy' to ers.
Prior to that, he was asked about his good friend Alejandro Garnacho amid an expectation the Argentina forward will leave this summer after being told by Ruben Amorim he can find another club.
Amad was barely audible as he offered the opinion Garnacho is a good player and Manchester United need good players.
I suspect Amad was quite pleased to get out of there.
'We cannot hide' - Amorim after United booed offpublished at 14:33 29 May
14:33 29 May
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Ruben Amorim "understands" fan frustration and said his players "cannot hide" after they were booed off in their post-season tour of Asia.
United's poor season saw them finish 15th in the Premier League, but they sunk to a new low on Wednesday with a 1-0 defeat to a Southeast Asian XI in Kuala Lumpur.
"Everybody can feel it. But I understand the fans [booing]," he said.
"It's clear that we cannot hide... if there is one thing that is really important in this club, it's that we need to face our fans in this moment and give something to our fans around the world."
Amorim, who took over from Erik ten Hag during the season but failed to spark an improvement in performances, added that his side was "not really focused" in the defeat.
The 40-year-old Portuguese said he had learned that being Manchester United manager meant being "more than a coach".
"You have to improve as a person, you have to improve as a leader. Sometimes after the games you see I am frustrated, I am trying to control that.
"When you have results, you can manage everything so much easier," he added.
United will now face a Hong Kong's representative team in another friendly on Friday.
When will the 2025-26 Premier League fixtures be released? published at 08:21 29 May
08:21 29 May
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The BBC's Ask Me Anything team have done all of the research ahead of the announcement detailing next season's Premier League matches.
The fixtures for the 2025-26 season will be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday,18 June 2025 and the release will include the weekly schedule of all 380 matches.
The season will begin with a single fixture played on Friday, 15 August 2025 and conclude on Sunday, 24 May 2026, when all matches will be played at 16:00 BST. There will be 33 weekend rounds of fixtures, plus five midweek rounds.
The exact date and time at which individual matches are played during each weekend will be determined at regular intervals throughout the season, based on TV selections made by broadcasters.
Gossip: Rashford entourage meets with Barcelona boardpublished at 07:29 29 May
07:29 29 May
The agent of Manchester United's out-of-favour striker Marcus Rashford met with Barcelona sporting director Deco, with the 27-year-old England international desperate to the La Liga champions. (Sport - in Spanish), external
Fernandes was understandably the favourite to retain his Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year trophy at the club and when he did, he ed David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo on a record four wins.
He has been a level above again, and deserves better than Manchester United's current depths.
Amorim cannot escape critical scrutiny in South East Asiapublished at 18:45 28 May
18:45 28 May
Simon Stone Chief football news reporter in Kuala Lumpur
Image source, Getty Images
I suspect quite strongly Ruben Amorim cannot wait until Friday's final post-season encounter with Hong Kong is over and he is on the plane back to Manchester.
In his first week in the job, the 40-year-old spoke about how the media demands at United far exceed those at former club Sporting.
It is also pretty certain if the Portuguese club flew over 6,000 miles after their domestic season had ended, they would not get booed off by a large proportion of a 70,000-plus crowd, leaving Amorim to face the wrath of a hostile local media.
Yet such is the depth of knowledge about United among both ers and media in Malaysia that Amorim is asked to explain himself even when there are legitimate excuses - the heat and humidity for a start - for a below-par performance.
Amorim mentioned the four Manchester-based journalists covering this trip (including me) on Tuesday, saying we demand answers. But it was journalists based in South East Asia who asked about the booing in Kuala Lumpur and also the lack of tickets sold in Hong Kong.
Amorim said on Tuesday he was excited for the new season. He will not be excited for long if results don't turn round.
'That is what we have to do to push the players'published at 18:30 28 May
18:30 28 May
Image source, Getty Images
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says he needs to "push the players" and make them feel like they "need to win every game".
The Reds kicked off their post-season tour with a 1-0 defeat by ASEAN All-Stars in Malaysia - after which they were booed off.
Responding to a question about whether a "change of ethos" is needed, Amorim said: "We know that, and we talked about that after the [Aston] Villa game and we played quite well against a team trying to get Champions League. Today was completely different.
"My biggest concern is that we need to have the feeling we need to win every game, even a small side game on the street - every game, every exercise. That is what we have to do to push the players.
"The way I play is similar to other coaches - you have an idea and stick with it. I am just one more coach.
"I reached this level because I believe certain things so we will see. Of course, we need to improve the results - but I have the confidence."
New season starts now for Man Utdpublished at 12:02 28 May
12:02 28 May
Simon Stone in Kuala Lumpur Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Manchester United officials are putting a positive spin on their two-match trip to Asia, pointing out they are not the only club playing matches this week as Chelsea, Real Betis, Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan are also in action.
I am not sure two games against local sides in Malaysia and Hong Kong is quite the same as a European final, but the trip does at least give United head coach Ruben Amorim a chance to reset after a tortuous 2024-25 campaign.
United play a South East Asia All-Stars outfit in Kuala Lumpur tonight (13:45 BST) and then head to Hong Kong to play their national team on Friday (13:00 BST).
"It was important to finish the season," said Amorim. "We needed to close that chapter. Now I'm excited and I'm nervous - I want to work to the next season.
"I don't have a feeling that I need to disconnect - I don't need to rest.
"I just need to prepare for next season."
United have already made significant progress in their attempts to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolves, while a number of departures are expected.