2026年10月5日 · 星期一Mon 5 Oct 2026纸媒数字版 · 数据均经核验Digital Paper Edition · All Data Verified第 46 期Issue 46
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Barcelona clear Balde for January loan, Manchester United the keenest Premier League buyer: two left-back deals already fell through this summer巴萨放行巴尔德 1 月租借，曼联成英超最积极买家：今夏两笔左后卫交易已双双告吹
According to TEAMtalk, Barcelona have approved left-back Alejandro Balde to leave on loan in January 2026, and the club are now listening to offers, with Manchester United the most eager Premier League suitor, while Liverpool, Everton, Sunderland and Fulham have also been contacted through intermediaries.Balde is 22 and in the prime years of his career, but this season he has dropped to third or fourth choice at left-back in Flick's tactical system — behind Xavi Espart, João Cancelo and Gerard Martín.After seven La Liga rounds he has made only one appearance, the final 12 minutes of Barcelona's 7-2 win over Las Palmas, and although his contract runs to 2028, Barcelona plan to sign another left-back in 2027, so he is almost certain not to regain a starting role.For Manchester United this is a signing of necessity rather than choice: this summer the club chased Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall and Napoli's Nat Brown, but the former signed a new long-term deal with Newcastle, while the latter joined Bayern Munich for 50 million euros, and both deals collapsed.With Shaw out of contract at the end of the season and plagued by injuries, Carrick is effectively left with only one usable option and one ageing option on the left.Manchester United's football department are fully assessing the feasibility of a January loan move for Balde — loan first, then buy, a far lower risk than spending big straight away.
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Barcelona clear Balde for January loan, Manchester United the keenest Premier League buyer: two left-back deals already fell through this summer巴萨放行巴尔德 1 月租借，曼联成英超最积极买家：今夏两笔左后卫交易已双双告吹
According to TEAMtalk, Barcelona have approved left-back Alejandro Balde to leave on loan in January 2026, and the club are now listening to offers, with Manchester United the most eager Premier League suitor, while Liverpool, Everton, Sunderland and Fulham have also been contacted through intermediaries.Balde is 22 and in the prime years of his career, but this season he has dropped to third or fourth choice at left-back in Flick's tactical system — behind Xavi Espart, João Cancelo and Gerard Martín.After seven La Liga rounds he has made only one appearance, the final 12 minutes of Barcelona's 7-2 win over Las Palmas, and although his contract runs to 2028, Barcelona plan to sign another left-back in 2027, so he is almost certain not to regain a starting role.For Manchester United this is a signing of necessity rather than choice: this summer the club chased Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall and Napoli's Nat Brown, but the former signed a new long-term deal with Newcastle, while the latter joined Bayern Munich for 50 million euros, and both deals collapsed.With Shaw out of contract at the end of the season and plagued by injuries, Carrick is effectively left with only one usable option and one ageing option on the left.Manchester United's football department are fully assessing the feasibility of a January loan move for Balde — loan first, then buy, a far lower risk than spending big straight away.
Manchester United have set a €75m asking price for Šeško: Barcelona and Juventus have both made enquiries, but the medical staff are still working on a treatment plan.曼联为塞什科标上 7500 万欧：巴萨、尤文同步问价，但队医仍在找治疗方案
According to Italian outlet TuttoJuve, Manchester United have placed a €75m (around £63m) valuation on striker Benjamin Šeško, with Barcelona and Juventus both tracking the 23-year-old forward.After signing Gabriel Jesus this summer, Barcelona are looking for a long-term successor to Robert Lewandowski.Juventus, meanwhile, have added Šeško to their 2027 recruitment list because Woltemade has failed to meet expectations at Newcastle.However, United have not opened talks at this stage, and internal discussions still lean towards keeping Šeško as a long-term asset — the club signed him from RB Leipzig for around €76.5m on a contract until 2030, and this price tag is more about testing the market than rushing to cash in.The awkward part is the timing: on the same day this valuation emerged, British media reported that the medical staff are still studying treatment options for his shin injury, and the Slovenia head coach said the symptoms are atypical and the recovery period could be significantly extended.An injury to the same area last season kept him out for nearly four months, and he has yet to make a single Premier League start this season.Put him in the shop window first, then decide whether to sell — that is the norm for transfer business under INEOS.
Bayern join the race for JJ Gabriel: a third name emerges beyond Real Madrid and Barcelona拜仁加入 JJ·加布里埃尔争夺战：皇马、巴萨之外出现第三个名字
According to AS, Bayern Munich have become the third major club chasing Manchester United's 16-year-old prospect JJ Gabriel.The youngster turned 16 on Tuesday and holds an EU passport, meaning a move to a club within the European Union would only require FIFA approval, but cross-border transfers of players under 18 are subject to strict conditions, so any party pushing forward must be extremely careful.Real Madrid have been working actively on the deal, while Barcelona's sporting director Deco publicly denied it — "There are always players linked with us, that's normal" and "I'm not sure if he is still a Manchester United player" — but their sporting department has tracked the youngster for years and their team has already made contact around the Camp Nou area.Joining Bayern would mean bypassing the EU nationality route, but Germany also has protective regulations for youth players, so the difficulty is no lower than in England.Manchester United's hierarchy are clear on the matter: they do not want to let him go.When the youngster's camp submitted a departure request last month, the club were "puzzled" and tried to change his mind.His last training session at Carrington was more than two weeks ago, and he has since been keeping fit with a personal coach in Castelldefels, Barcelona.With three major clubs in the picture, the negotiating leverage is shifting towards the player's side.
Zirkzee has no goals and no assists in four games, and United are ready to clear him out in January to free up a squad place for Crystal Palace's Mateta.齐尔克泽 4 场 0 球 0 助准备清仓，1 月腾出名额换水晶宫马特塔
According to Football Insider, Manchester United could allow Joshua Zirkzee to leave in the January 2026 window to free up a squad place and wage budget for a move for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.The 25-year-old Dutch forward is clearly not part of Carrick's long-term plans, having made only four substitute appearances this season with no goals or assists, and the club already considered selling him in the summer, with several teams now interested.Mateta has only one year left on his Crystal Palace contract, and the club do not want to lose him for nothing, so a January sale is possible.His market value is not low: Transfermarkt rates him at around 30 million euros (25 million pounds), while United value Zirkzee at around 20 million euros — the figures roughly match, and the clubs could even do a straight player swap.The 29-year-old French forward has scored 16, 15 and 12 goals over the past three seasons, and a record of 62 goals in 203 games is more than enough to establish him in the Premier League.His representatives have already made contact with Manchester United, and football director Jason Wilcox admires him greatly.The medical risk is worth noting: in January this year Mateta had agreed a transfer to AC Milan for 32 million euros, but the deal collapsed after he failed his medical.According to Football Insider's additional reporting, Cunha and Zirkzee have scored only two goals in 11 games together — United are among the teams with the most shots and expected goals in the league, yet they keep failing to turn dominance into goals, so signing a centre-forward in January has gone from a secondary task to an issue that must be pushed forward.
'El Sackico': United host Tottenham on 10 October, 12th against bottom-placed 20th — will Carrick or De Zerbi be sacked first?「El Sackico」：10 月 10 日主场对热刺，12 名对垫底 20 名，卡里克与德泽尔比谁先下课
In Premier League matchday 6, Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on 10 October at 19:30 (03:30 Beijing time, 11 October).It is a clash the media have dubbed 'El Sackico': Manchester United, 12th with 5 points from 5 games, against Tottenham, 20th with 2 points from 5 games, with the two managers being Carrick, who took over after Amorim's departure, and De Zerbi, who spent £200 million this summer to reshape his side.Both clubs have said their managers are safe for now, but the subtext in the media is written all over their faces.The background comparison is brutal: Manchester United have failed to beat Tottenham in eight straight meetings since October 2022, and Tottenham won four times last season.De Zerbi's side have the bluntest attack in the league, with only two goals all season, and have been through a low point of 445 minutes without scoring.United, meanwhile, have opened the league campaign with one win, two draws and two defeats — their worst first five games of a season since 2014.Predicted line-up (4-2-3-1): Rammens;Dalot, Maguire, Martínez, Shaw;Casemiro, Mainoo;Amad, Fernandes, Cunha;Mbeumo.The biggest question mark is the debut of Carlos Bariba (£70 million) — he played around 75 minutes in a closed-door friendly against Lausanne-Sport on 2 October as part of his return, and Carrick said he is 'working hard to be back as soon as possible', making Saturday the most realistic window for his first appearance.Another point of debate is whether Carrick should move Mbeumo into the central striker role: this season Cunha has started every league game as a false nine, yet the attacking output has remained poor.
The international break became a "soft reset" for Carrick: the pressure eased, Manchester City's financial scandal took over the headlines, and the real test comes after the break.国际周成了卡里克的「软重启」：压力暂缓、曼城财务丑闻抢走版面，考验在回来之后
Manchester United local media United In Focus published an analysis on 5 October, arguing that the three-week October international break was an unexpected "soft reset" for Carrick.The article pointed out that before the international break, the 45-year-old Carrick had already been feeling clear weekly pressure from Old Trafford.The national-team matches cooled that pressure, allowing him to return to the training base with his full coaching staff to redesign the tactics.A second source of relief came from outside: Manchester City's alleged financial rule breaches dominated the news cycle during the international break, meaning United's inconsistent form was finally out of the daily spotlight.A day earlier, another comment piece from the same outlet said Carrick was one of the frontrunners to continue as manager, with competitors including Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique — while a report on 4 October showed the club had no concerns about Carrick's position at this stage.The real test comes after the three weeks.Tottenham Hotspur at home on 10 October, Atlético Madrid away on 13 October in the Champions League, Leeds away on 18 October, and Como 1907 away on 21 October in the Champions League — six matches in 21 days, four of them away, with only three days between the Tottenham and Atlético games.Whether Carrick can get the team firing quickly after the international break will be the first hard measure of how secure his position really is.
Carrick's 16-year-old son Jess makes first-team debut: appears in Lausanne friendly, from baby ball boy to senior side卡里克 16 岁儿子杰西完成一线队首秀：洛桑友谊赛上阵，从婴儿球童踢到成人队
According to The Sun, Michael Carrick's 16-year-old son Jess Carrick made his first-team debut as a midfielder in Manchester United's 2-1 win over Lausanne-Sport in a behind-closed-doors friendly.With at least 22 first-team players absent on international duty or through injury, Carrick called up several youngsters from the academy, and Jess got his chance — he has already made five appearances for Manchester United Under-18s this season.Jess joined the Manchester United academy at the age of six and signed his first academy scholarship contract in July this year.His social media is almost entirely centred on Manchester United, the club he has supported since childhood, including youth tournament wins and his 'Class of 2026' scholarship deal.Another childhood teammate is Wayne Rooney's son Kai Rooney.The father-and-son story at Old Trafford now spans fifteen years: in May 2011, a one-year-old Jess stepped onto the pitch for the first time just after Manchester United had won the Premier League title.In May 2016, after Louis van Gaal had told Carrick the club would not offer him a new contract, Jess and his sister Louise served as mascots for the game against Bournemouth; Van Gaal was then sacked, José Mourinho arrived and wanted Carrick to stay, extending his Manchester United career.There was his testimonial in 2017, and in January 2018, just after heart surgery, Carrick took Jess into the Turf Moor dressing room for the game against Burnley — which Manchester United won 1-0.Carrick wrote in his autobiography that at parents' evenings teachers always mentioned first that he was 'kind and very polite'.
Rio: Signing two Šeško alternatives back then would have “added huge value”, while also posing a question about the Glazer family.里奥：当初签下两名塞什科替代者本可「增加巨大价值」，同时抛出对格拉泽家族的一问
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, in comments made on 5 October, delivered a direct judgement on the club’s transfer decisions: had United signed two alternatives to Šeško in the summer window, the club could have “added huge value”.The real-world backdrop to those remarks is a forward line stretched thin this season — Šeško has been out injured long term, Zirkzee has no goals or assists in four games, and Cunha and Zirkzee have scored only twice in 11 matches.Ineos spent around £150 million this summer with the investment concentrated in defensive midfield, and a strategy of strengthening only one area of the pitch within a year has proved costly in the face of an injury crisis.Rio’s wording was not simple criticism but pointed to an opportunity cost: had United diverted part of the summer budget beyond midfield to add depth at centre-forward, they would not have been left facing an emergency list of “Mbeumo, Cunha, Zirkzee, Lacey” after the November international break.In a Q&A on the same day, he also raised another question for the club’s management — he could not understand the logic behind one of United’s decisions.The two comments point to the same issue: there is a systemic question from former players about resource allocation and the decision-making chain under Ineos.That is consistent with earlier reports of Zirkzee and Mateta moving in opposite directions — the issue is not just “who to buy”, but “why it was not done earlier”.
Šeško's medical team are still working on a treatment plan, and the Slovenia head coach says the symptoms are "atypical", with his return likely to be delayed significantly.谢什科队医仍在研究治疗方案，斯洛文尼亚主帅称症状「非典型」，复出期恐大幅拉长
According to the latest reports from British media, Benjamin Šeško underwent further checks and scans arranged by Manchester United last week, and the medical staff are still drawing up a treatment plan.The Slovenia national team head coach has confirmed the injury is complicated and involves "atypical symptoms", and recovery could take a long time — meaning the tibia problem that kept him out for nearly four months last season, and has prevented him from starting a single Premier League game this term, is likely to continue.Beyond the injury there has been another episode: Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt felt Šeško preferred shin pads that were too small and was not taking enough responsibility for protecting his body, but after learning the issue may stem from an old injury rather than inadequate protection, Rooney apologised — "If it really is a long-term problem, I think I should say sorry. I'm sorry, Šeško."The knock-on effect in attack is already clear: with Amad Diallo (injured in pre-season and yet to play this season), Marcus Rashford (withdrew from the England squad after picking up an injury against Fulham) and Patrick Dorgu (came off at half-time in Denmark's game against Wales) all affected, Manchester United's only fit centre-forward options are now Mbeumo, Cunha, Zirkzee and 19-year-old Shea Lacey.Zirkzee does not score enough to lead the line as a starting number nine, Lacey lacks Premier League experience, and Carrick may have to push Mason Mount up front again and continue without a recognised striker.Tynan Thompson, signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £8 million this summer, is seen as the "Rashford of north London", and the coaching staff are pleased with his development, but they are still not ready to give him a chance in the Premier League in the short term.
Fernandes has played three matches in a row while carrying an injury but is expected to face Tottenham Hotspur: Portugal boss says he does not want to take risks.费尔南德斯带伤连打 3 场但预计出战热刺：葡萄牙主帅称「不想冒险」
According to the Manchester Evening News injury round-up, Bruno Fernandes is one of the few players whose condition clearly improved during the international break.Portugal head coach João Santos revealed that Bruno missed the match against Wales because of a "complex issue", but he has returned to training and is expected to feature in the upcoming matches and return to Manchester United.The coach's explanation is worth noting: Bruno has "been dealing with this pain while playing through it over the past three matches, and it has affected his performances" — which also explains the fluctuation in his league numbers this season.As the league's assist leader, whether he can face 10 October at full fitness will directly determine the quality of Carrick's forward passing.In contrast to Bruno, three players at senior and youth international level were "singled out": Kobbie Mainoo withdrew from the England squad before matchday and was placed on Thomas Tuchel's injury list, with the outside view being that his workload is being managed.Marcus Rashford withdrew from the England squad after taking a heavy knock on landing in the match against Fulham.Karl Darlow withdrew from the Wales squad, with the nature of the injury unclear.All three are listed as "expected to be available against Tottenham Hotspur", but Carrick stressed there will be an update before the match — with five days to go until the Tottenham game, it is too early to draw conclusions.
Six games in 21 days with four away trips: Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético Madrid, Leeds United and Como in a row will test the squad rather than the starting XI.10 月 21 天 6 战 4 客场：热刺、马竞、利兹、科莫连续赛程考的是板凳而非首发
Manchester United's October schedule is now fully set: at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 10 October, away to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League on 13 October, away to Leeds United on 18 October, away to Como in the Champions League on 21 October, at home to AFC Bournemouth on 25 October and away to Chelsea on 31 October — six games in 21 days, four of them away, with only eight days between the two Champions League ties against Atlético and Como, and the toughest back-to-back away trips of Madrid and Como squeezed in between.The core judgement in the analysis is worth quoting: the test in October is not how many rotations Carrick makes, but whether the team can maintain its level while rotating.A long list of substitutes does not prove squad depth — the replacements must be able to carry out identifiable, specific duties, such as holding the defensive line, progressing the ball and linking with team-mates.If every substitution leads to a structural reset, resting one regular starter can end up increasing the burden on everyone else.This directly clashes with Manchester United's current injury reality: the return dates for Šeško, Dorgu, De Ligt and Ugarte are all unknown, Bariba has yet to make his competitive debut, and four forwards — Mbeumo, Cunha, Zirkzee and Lacey — have to carry six matches.Rotation is precisely where resources are currently thinnest — and that is the fundamental reason why signing a centre-forward and a left-back in January has been repeatedly mentioned.