United fixture chaos spared by City FA Cup win

Posted Sunday, May 19, 2019 by ESPN

Manchester United have been handed a huge favour by rivals Man City, with Pep Guardiola's FA Cup win saving the Red Devils from a summer of fixture chaos.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side finished sixth in the Premier League and would have faced a Europa League qualifier on July 25 and Aug. 1 if City had lost to Watford at Wembley on Saturday. But City cruised to a 6-0 victory with goals from David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus (2) and Raheem Sterling (2).

The early start to the season would have played havoc with a preseason schedule that was already in place, including friendlies in Australia, Singapore, China and Cardiff.

But now United will go direct to the group-stage draw (the place reserved for the FA Cup winners, which City do not need). Instead it will be Wolves who start their season in July, with the berth in the Europa League second qualifying going to seventh in the Premier League.

Wolves will now have to play on six consecutive Thursdays -- in the second qualifying round, third qualifying round and playoff round -- to make it into the draw for the group stage on Aug. 30. The Premier League season begins on the weekend on Aug. 10.

Wolves have already confirmed their participation in the Asia Trophy, and will play two games in China on July 17 and 20. However, as yet they have no fixtures in place after these dates so would be clear for the Europa League qualifiers.

United play Tottenham in Shanghai on July 25 -- the same day as the Europa League second qualifying round first leg -- and AC Milan in Cardiff on Aug. 3.

Both these games would have been under threat had United had to play in the Europa League that week. But sources told ESPN FC that contingency plans were in place with options including fulfilling friendlies with a reserve team or moving the dates and venues of games.

Sources have also told ESPN FC that United have also agreed a deal with Kristiansund -- Solskjaer's hometown team -- to play an additional friendly in Oslo on July 30. However, the club had been forced to delay the announcement until after their Europa League schedule was clear.

The squad are due to report back at Carrington for the start of preseason training on July 1 before flying to Australia on July 7. They are due to play Perth Glory in Perth on July 13 before a game against Leeds United, also in Perth, on July 17. From there, United fly to Singapore to play Inter Milan on July 20.

Philippe Coutinho should be on Liverpool's transfer radar this summer if they get a chance to re-sign him from Barcelona, according to the club's former captain Jamie Carragher.

Coutinho left for Camp Nou in 2018's January transfer window for an initial £105m (rising to £142m) but has struggled in Spain and has been repeatedly linked with a return to the Premier League.

Sources told ESPN FC that Barcelona would accept an offer of around £90m and Carragher claims that the Brazil international would be the perfect player for Liverpool.

"I wouldn't say I would be actively going to get him, but if there was a possibility of bringing Coutinho back for decent money, and Barca wanted to cut their losses a little bit because it hasn't worked out, then I'd do that," Carragher told the Liverpool Echo.

"Would he be welcomed back? I'm not sure. But he should be. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be. I know he got a little bit of stick when he came back [with Barcelona for the Champions League semifinal earlier this month] because he wanted to move.

"But [Xabi] Alonso wanted to move to Real Madrid, [Luis] Suarez wanted to move to Barcelona, and we still loved them when they went.

"Sometimes we pick and choose who we love when they leave. Nobody forced any player to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona, [Javier] Mascherano is another one. Suarez only got stick when he came back because of his antics in the first game [against Liverpool], if he hadn't done that then he'd be adored when he came back. What's the difference between him and Coutinho?"

Liverpool finished second in the Premier League this season behind Man City, with a club-record 97 points and will play the Champions League final against Tottenham on June 1. But, after failing to land Lyon midfielder Nabil Fekir, Carragher believes the club miss a central attacking midfielder.

"We lack that player in the squad," he added. "We have it in [Adam] Lallana and [Xherdan] Shaqiri, but this is a different level of player.

"It's the one thing Man City have on us, they have Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne. We don't have that type of player. We have great midfield players who are all very similar. We could add something a little bit different. But that would only really be if it was a good price for us."