Thx for posting the entire article. Also interesting was the following:
""Four other players — Josh Onomah, Anthony Knockaert, Ivan Cavaleiro and Terence Kongolo — are not training with the squad. It is understood that Silva wants to keep them separate from the group as he does not see them as part of his Premier League plans. The club are known to be open to offers for three of the four: Onomah, Cavaleiro and Knockaert.""
Not sure I follow regards Kongolo. Not in his PL plans? Yet, not open to offers for him?
I'm sure I saw Knockaert in the video of training posted on the club website a few days ago.
Does that mean the whole article is nonsense?
I'd never exclude these players from training if I was MS. Given the possibility that transfer deals may fall through, we may need to keep some/all of these players. They've all contributed well when in form so let's show them some respect - they're still part of the family and, speaking for myself, if they do leave and come back as visiting players for another club I'd stand up and give them a round of applause as they approach the Hammersmith End
All of the players apparently allegedly cast away from the main group have all been on video training with the “first team” which is why I think the whole article struggles to maintain any authenticity when it’s quite easily contradicted by information freely available that’s less than 48 hours old
Not sure, but if you see the Back to the Grass video, none of the 4: Knockaert, Kongolo, Cav and Onomah are taking part. Yes, some of them were in the video before First Day Back video - which looks to be just fitness/form number taking for record purposes.
First Day Back video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvYvM6UAl8
Back to the Grass video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-dOSKiXiw
I would say the article is more up to date and more accurate as the back-to-grass video seems to imply those are the outfield players at Silva's disposal.
Agree, Matt - when I saw Knock in the first vid I felt sorry for him, greeting other players and with a smile on his face, and having to undergo these very rigorous fitness assessments, while knowing that he wouldn't be featuring as part of the team, although the announcement hadn't then been made that he and a few others would be training separately.
But I didn't see him in the second vid of the players in training, nor others I thought I recognized in the first vid, like Kongolo and Onomha.