The Euros and Copa America ended barely two weeks ago, bleeding right into the Olympics and club exhibition season. The German second division starts its season this Friday, while other midtier leagues such as Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League have already begun play. Basically, the Olympics will carry us through the next week-and-a-half — the quarterfinals are this Friday and Saturday, the gold medal matches the next Friday and Saturday — and then it’s on to the Community Shield and everything else.
There is truly no offseason in European soccer. We always say it, and it feels more true with every passing year. The club season is once again upon us, though, and there are plenty of intriguing and/or important storylines to track in the month of August. Let’s talk about some of the biggest ones.
Even within the grand, noisy ecosystem of European soccer, Manchester United are an industry to themselves. They can sustain vast percentages of the internet on their own with the page views stemming from behind-the-scenes drama, on-field shocks, nonstop transfer rumors and semi-frequent silly transfer moves. New ownership is attempting to create something more stable and while we’ll see if that’s actually possible, their transfer efforts have actually sort of made sense this summer, hinting at actual long-term thinking instead of short-term panic.
What have United done? Well, they’ve shed onerous contracts like those of Donny van de Beek, Raphaël Varane and Anthony Martial, they could ditch more if the right deal springs up for Jadon Sancho, Antony or Casemiro, and they finally rid themselves of Mason Greenwood. Meanwhile, they addressed two key needs with youngsters instead of overpriced 29-year-olds. They added 23-year-old Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee and 18-year-old Lille center-back Leny Yoro, and while I’m not entirely sure about Zirkzee’s fit up front — he’s far more of an energy-provider than a classic No. 9 who does things like “shoot” and “score” (though he does provide plenty of energy) — Yoro’s been an immediate hit despite an injury that will keep him out for a while.
When you acknowledge that you’re facing a longer-term rebuild to catch up to your rivals, you invest in players who might be even better in 2-3 years than they are now and once healthy, Yoro sure seems to fit that bill. (You also maybe give your uncertain manager a bit of a longer leash, too, since the short term isn’t the highest priority.)
Along with increasing mainstays such as 19-year-old midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 20-year-old winger Alejandro Garnacho and 21-year-old forward Rasmus Hojlund, one can actually see the start of a new roster core forming. While we must acknowledge that we don’t know what other moves they’ll make this month — especially with Yoro and/or Hojlund out for a bit — we’ll quickly learn a lot about what this team might be this season.
