• United not seeking to offload but trio not untouchable
• Offers will also be considered for Yoro, De Ligt and Ugarte

Manchester United will listen to serious offers for any of Ruben Amorim’s squad, including Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Højlund, who were previously deemed untouchable.

United are not actively seeking to offload the trio but there is recognition from Sir Jim Ratcliffe that the club have been poor sellers. With finance limited because of profitability and sustainability rules, sales have to become a key part of healthy squad management.

Today’s rumours think about your dumb face all the time

Manchester United seem to be plotting a double raid on Paris Saint-Germain, after identifying Randal Kolo Muani as the answer to their striking problems and Nuno Mendes as their ideal left-back, though neither transfer looks straightforward. Muani, who moved to the Parc des Princes for £77m only 16 months ago and has scored twice in 14 appearances this season, could be available on loan and is also interesting Tottenham while also finding himself on a three-man shortlist drawn up by Juventus, where he is joined by United’s own Joshua Zirkzee and West Ham’s mostly-injured Niclas Füllkrug – the Old Lady are hoping to free up funds by selling the former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz back into the Premier League, with Manchester City one of three clubs they have offered him to.

Mendes meanwhile is in the final 18 months of his contract in France, and the Telegraph reports that “there have been several discussions” between United and the 22-year-old’s representatives, but also that PSG are hoping to convince him to sign a new deal and that there are “doubts he will demand a transfer during this window”.

• Arrests followed Manchester United’s trip to Liverpool
• Another six detained and asked to attend interviews

Police arrested two men, including one from Tennessee, and detained eight people in total following reports of tragedy chanting at Sunday’s Premier League game between Liverpool and Manchester United.

A 28-year-old man from Hendersonville, Tennessee in the US, and a 46-year-old man from Church Warsop in Nottinghamshire were arrested by Merseyside police under section 5 of the Public Order Act (tragedy chanting).

• Milan want United to foot much of Rashford’s salary
• Juventus interested in loan deal for Netherlands forward

Marcus Rashford is being targeted by Milan regarding a potential loan, with any deal dependent on Manchester United paying a sizeable portion of the forward’s salary of about £365,000 a week.

Whether United are willing to do so is yet to be decided. It is not their preference to provide a considerable percentage of Rashford’s wage, which makes him United’s highest-paid player. But Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls football policy, may decide Rashford departing for the rest of the season is in the best interests of all parties, particularly the head coach, Ruben Amorim.

Bitter rivalries are being set aside, as supporters join forces to push back against ‘absolute disgrace’ of cost increases

Some issues transcend the biggest rivalry in the Premier League, as the sight of a Manchester United banner outside the Kop on Sunday underlined. Before Liverpool and United shared a point inside Anfield supporters of both clubs joined forces to make one about rising ticket prices and the attack on concessions in the world’s richest football league.

“There is an irony to this,” said the United fan Steve Crompton. “What we are trying to protect is us going into the ground and hating each other for 90 minutes, and yet here we are. This rivalry is part of the Premier League’s product. If you fill the ground with corporates the atmosphere will eventually disappear and so will the ‘legacy fans’, as we get labelled.”

Guardiola warns Grealish over Savinho, Southampton hit new low and is Arsenal’s negativity holding them back?

So much about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s display on Sunday was puzzling. Real Madrid’s now-public courtship may have had something to do with it, but at times it felt he was being hung out to dry. Poorly as he played, he was deliberately exposed by his own team, left to deal with whatever threats Manchester United could conjure down their left flank while the only players likely to drop back and help him out, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch, rarely did so. When it became obvious that he was having an off day, nothing was done to cover for it and nurse him back into the game. When his own poor clearance was returned in the buildup to United’s opening goal it found him briefly with four opponents to deal with by himself, demonstrating that Liverpool’s problems down the right were not just an individual but a systemic issue. He is (usually) an astonishingly good player, but miracles will sometimes be beyond him. Simon Burnton

• Manager demands more of the same after 2-2 draw
• ‘Training and match, we need to face every day like that’

Ruben Amorim said Manchester United’s mentality was key to a vast improvement against Liverpool and admitted Bruno Fernandes was right to be upset at the team’s inability to deliver every week.

United ended a run of four defeats in all competitions with a spirited draw secured by Amad Diallo’s 80th-minute equaliser at the Premier League leaders, who missed the opportunity to move eight points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand.

Ruben Amorim tightened things in the middle for Liverpool trip, and the rest of the team stepped up in a pulsating game

This was a thrilling, bruising game, and even a very funny one at times. Not least in its final significant act in the 97th minute, a cross from the right that found Harry Maguire unmarked in front of goal and wreathed suddenly in the cold, hard spotlight of destiny, but opting instead to smash the ball into the crowd like a man punting a crumpled beer can over a factory fence.

The end result was a good draw for Manchester United, which is no small thing, and definitely an improvement on the recent trend for bad defeats. It was probably a good result for Liverpool too after a performance that was spirited at times but some way short of the sunlit stroll of the first half of the season. This point will perhaps mean more by the end than some of those cloudless victories.

Manchester United discovered their mojo to emerge from Anfield with a point and a desperately-needed dose of encouragement

Meanwhile Roy Keane, who is sitting alongside Daniel Sturridge in the Sky studio today, is growling already:

I don’t feel it today. I’m even surprised at myself. I look at the energy off them. Today, I feel probably more worried than I ever have for this United. It’s one of the worst United teams I’ve seen for a long, long time.

Of course, when you play a game of football anything is possible. We have to perform better than last week, that is our goal, and we have to focus on the little things to help us to be in the game. Let’s improve the basic things. We need to be a team, and for that we need to recover really fast, to go forward really fast. The players were nervous, anxious [last week], but we need to be brave. Remember this is the fun part of our week.

An evening of some redemption for Manchester United was not without its customary slice of Anfield agony. Thirty seconds remained of a gripping battle when Joshua Zirkzee spurned the chance of hero status among fans who jeered him six days earlier to present Harry Maguire with a clear sight of Alisson’s goal. Maguire found Row Z of the Anfield Road Stand and United’s wait for a win at Liverpool heads towards a nine-year anniversary on 17 January.

Ruben Amorim visibly despaired after the two maligned United players combined to miss the opportunity to deliver a remarkable victory. But there was plenty to encourage the Portuguese coach, United’s mentality chief among them. Liverpool remain six points clear at the Premier League summit, with a game in hand on nearest challengers Arsenal.

• Liverpool held to 2-2 draw in chaotic thriller with United
• Weather hits more of Sunday’s programme in England

Sunday’s Liverpool v Manchester United Premier League match went ahead despite the north-west region’s adverse weather conditions.

Merseyside and the north-west had a dump of snow overnight and Liverpool city council’s safety advisory group met on Sunday morning to determine whether the game could be played. Access issues led the list of concerns. The group reconvened at 12pm GMT in the hope weather conditions would ease and the fixture kicked off as scheduled at 4.30pm, with Manchester United holding Liverpool to a 2-2 draw.

Liverpool host a disjointed side bereft of form but United supporters are keen to get behind Ruben Amorim

Manchester United’s recent trips to Liverpool have been gruesome occasions for their supporters. It has been nine years since United last won away at their fiercest rivals and they have failed to score in their past five visits to Anfield, losing 4-0 and 7-0 in that time.

United fans could be forgiven for plunging to new levels of pessimism for this latest mission to Merseyside, given current circumstances. While Liverpool are streaking clear at the Premier League summit via a seamless transition under Arne Slot, United are staring down the barrel of a fifth successive defeat and a seventh in 12 games under Ruben Amorim.

• Manager admits it is ‘hard to cope’ with the pressure
• Amorim praises fans despite jeers directed at Zirkzee

Ruben Amorim says Manchester United’s players have been struck by fear during matches and he is looking to the club’s supporters, as well as his own family, to lift the darkening mood around Old Trafford.

United travel to Liverpool on Sunday with the gap between the two fierce rivals 23 points after 19 games played. While Arne Slot has breathed new life into Liverpool this season, Amorim’s start at United has been littered with problems and poor results.

Visitors will offer openings to a Liverpool juggling a four-pronged pursuit of glory with speculation about their stars

At this stage last season Liverpool had lost once and were top of the Premier League. They scored 12 goals in their first three league games of 2024 to prove their credentials as title challengers before faltering in April and finishing third. They again have an impressive platform but January will test the fortitude of Arne Slot’s side, with eight games in four competitions while the rumour mill churns in the background.

A dysfunctional Manchester United arrive on Sunday, 23 points behind Liverpool, desperately hoping that against arguably Europe’s best side they can find a way to halt their run of atrocious performances. Anfield is buoyant after a superb start under Slot but beating a great rival, even one in the doldrums, would take the mood even higher.

Unbending coach takes his side to Liverpool on Sunday, with attempts to kick club on undermined by a decade of misrule

The thought had always been that it couldn’t happen now. It’s just not possible in modern football that a super-club could be relegated. Manchester United may have gone down in 1974 but it’s not going to happen in 2025. Even when Ruben Amorim said that United were in a relegation battle after Monday’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle, he was making the point to shock.

And it’s not going to happen now. United will not be relegated. They probably only need 15 points from the second half of the season to be safe and the financial structure of modern football means there are at least three sides worse than them. Yet it’s significant that Amorim could mention relegation without it sounding entirely absurd, revealing that it feels worth doing the calculation, working out what sort of tally might be necessary for United to survive. What has happened at United since Sir Alex Ferguson left feels like thought experiment made flesh: what would it take for the most successful side in English history to go down?

Manchester United’s new manager is increasingly looking like an odd hire, especially compared to the successful succession at their arch rivals

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Ruben Amorim’s time at Manchester United is the physical effect of the job, the altered optics. Amorim turned up at Old Trafford looking like a handsome pirate: the jawline, the seigneurial smile, the elite Euro-cardigan styling, the sense that here is someone who smells at all times of high-spec automobile upholstery.

Seven weeks in he has the air of a doomed royal hostage, shuttled joylessly from corridor to touchline by unseen handlers. The smile has fractured, the shoulders have drooped. Most recently United’s head coach has developed a habit of dropping down on to his haunches mid-match and staring deep into the Old Trafford turf, as though searching for a) a contact lens; and b) the remaining fragments of his own shredded and tender soul.

• Manchester United manager ‘happy’ to trigger extension
• He wants senior players to help team ‘starving for leaders’

Ruben Amorim has said Harry Maguire’s one-year option will be triggered “happily” but has warned the former captain to improve his leadership and form to help Manchester United turn around their poor results.

The head coach also said that the club were close to agreeing new terms with Amad Diallo, one of United’s best players this season. “Amad is near,” Amorim said.

Antonee Robinson is running rampant while Eberechi Eze and Erling Haaland hope to build on goals from last time out

The contrast is significant. Newcastle arrive on the back of four league wins and four clean sheets. Tottenham have one victory in their last seven league games, four goals conceded against Chelsea before being hit for six by a rampaging Liverpool side. Spurs have had little trouble going forward but there remains a concern with the returns from their captain, Son Heung-min. The South Korean has had a quiet season by his excellent standards, seven goals in all competitions thus far, an eighth denied by a miss from the penalty spot against Wolves. Hamstring troubles hampered him earlier in the season and, amid Spurs’ wider difficulties, there is the subplot of a change in status within their attack. Dejan Kulusevski has become the central figure; Brennan Johnson, out on the right, is Spurs’ leading goalscorer across all competitions; Dominic Solanke is steadily finding his way. With Son approaching a decade in north London, the future is taking shape. Taha Hashim

Tottenham v Newcastle, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Aston Villa v Leicester, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Chelsea, Saturday 3pm

Erik ten Hag salvaged a sorry season with FA Cup glory but Ruben Amorim has so far overseen even worse results

8 Jan, Wigan (a), FA Cup, 2-0 win; 14 Jan, Tottenham (h) 2-2 draw; 28 Jan, Newport County (a), FA Cup, 4-2 win

1 Feb, Wolves (a), 4-3 win; 4 Feb, West Ham (h), 3-0 win; 11 Feb, Aston Villa (a), 2-1 win; 18 Feb, Luton (a) 2-1 win; 24 Feb, Fulham (h), 2-1 defeat; 28 Feb, Nottingham Forest (a), FA Cup, 1-0 win

3 Mar, Manchester City (a), 3-1 defeat; 9 Mar, Everton (h), 2-0 win; 17 Mar, Liverpool (h) FA Cup, 4-3 win (aet); 30 Mar, Brentford (a), 1-1 draw

4 Apr, Chelsea (a), 4-3 defeat; 7 Apr, Liverpool (h), 2-2 draw; 13 Apr, Bournemouth (a) 2-2 draw; 21 Apr, Coventry, FA Cup, 3-3 (aet; win 4-2 on pens); 24 Apr, Sheffield United (h) 4-2 win; 27 Apr, Burnley (h), 1-1 draw

6 May, Crystal Palace (a), 4-0 defeat; 12 May, Arsenal (h), 1-0 defeat; 15 May, Newcastle (h) 3-2 win; 19 May, Brighton (a) 2-0 win; 25 May, Manchester City, FA Cup final, 2-1 win

• United seven points off drop zone after loss to Newcastle
• Coach says club will have to sell to buy in January window

Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United need a “shock” and are being dragged into a relegation fight after their 2-0 defeat by Newcastle at Old Trafford on Monday night.

It leaves United in 14th place on 22 points at the halfway stage of the Premier League season, seven above the drop zone. The defeat came after first-half goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton and is United’s fourth consecutive loss in all competitions and the first time three consecutive home league matches have been lost since 1978-79.