Edinson Cavani Manchester United 2021-22Getty

Cavani won't seek Man Utd transfer in January, Rangnick reveals

Edinson Cavani has told Ralf Rangnick he will not be pushing for a move away from Manchester United in the January transfer window. 

The striker’s contract at Old Trafford is up at the end of the season and there has been plenty of speculation about his future with claims he would push to leave the club this month. 

Sources dismissed reports linking the Uruguayan with a move to Barcelona as "agent noise" and Rangnick has made it clear he wants the 34-year-old to stay after talks with the forward.

Article continues below

What has been said? 

Cavani sat down with United boss Rangnick this week to outline his commitment to the club and revealed he would not be pushing for a January exit.

"I told him that if it was up to me I would want him to stay and I had a conversation with him yesterday," Rangnick said. 

"He came into my office and we spoke for almost half an hour and he told me he will definitely stay and would want to stay until the end of the season.

“Not only because I told him that he should stay or has to stay, he did it on his own behalf and he told me that I can rely on him to stay until the end of the season and give his very best and be a role model for the young players.

“Even if he's not playing, he will be trying to be the best possible role model for the other players and for me this is good news because Edi if one of those players with his vast amount of experience, with his mentality, his work ethic, I think he could really be a perfect role model for the other players.”

Cavani's Man Utd career so far 

Cavani joined Man Utd in October 2020 and has played 50 times for the club. He signed a contract extension for a further year but his current deal expires in the summer and it seems unlikely he will stay beyond then. 

Injury issues have seen him miss a lot of action this season and he has only started four times in the league with two of those coming in the last two games. 

He has scored 19 goals in all competitions since he arrived but just two of those goals have come this season. 

What else was said? 

Cavani is one of a number of players said to be unhappy at the club. Anthony Martial has already made it clear he wants to leave, Donny van de Beek would like a January transfer, Dean Henderson is looking for guarantees over his playing time and there are others including Jesse Lingard and Amad who need more minutes. 

Rangnick admitted he has a number of "unhappy" players in the dressing room but he has not spoken to each of them individually over their plans in the current window. 

“I haven't had the time to do it with everyone because of the Covid situation, we had the closure of Carrington and we still have an issue with Covid in the building,” Rangnick replied when asked if he had spoken to every player about their future. 

 “Players when they get changed for training, they do it in different locker rooms. But I have spoken to quite a few of them. I think most of the players know what they have to do and we also speak to the players. We did it today before the training session - what they have to do in each position and what their jobs are, offensively and defensively.

"I think the players know what they have to do but like I said with only 10 players being able to play and three to be substituted there will still be a huge amount of players right [now] who don't get the game time they would like to get.”

Further reading 

Advertisement