What the papers say

Manchester United and Liverpool have both declared their interest in Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee, but the 22-year-old has reportedly told his manager that he would prefer a move to Italian club AC Milan, the Mirror reports. Zirkzee has scored 10 goals and produced three assists in 28 games for Bologna in Serie A this season.

Manchester United are also interested in 26-year-old Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa to help bolster their defence, according to Football Transfers. Konsa has played 28 Premier League games for Villa this season.

Fulham manager Marco Silva has attracted some interest from West Ham, who has a release clause in his contract of £8.6million, the Sun says.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Federico Valverde: Liverpool are hoping to sign Real Madrid’s Uruguayan 25-year-old midfielder who is worth around £150million, according to TeamTalk.

Mikayil Faye: Arsenal are looking to match Manchester United’s bid for the 19-year-old Barcelona centre-back, Calciomercato reports.

Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United’s first-half performance in their 2-1 win at Sheffield United was not a fitting way to remember Sir Bobby Charlton.

United are mourning one of their greatest ever players following Charlton’s death aged 86 on Saturday morning and goals from Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot ensured they remembered him with victory.

But Ten Hag’s side could not be much further away from the one that Charlton famously led to European Cup glory in 1968 as they were lacklustre against a team who have picked up just one point this season.

Defender Dalot was the unlikely hero as he saved their blushes with a 20-yard curler 13 minutes from time after Oli McBurnie’s first-half penalty had cancelled out McTominay’s opener.

Ten Hag said: “We are happy we did that, we have to pay attention and do it in a good way and first half I think it wasn’t the standard for Sir Bobby Charlton and the second half was a bit better.

“But of course the news arrived and we are very sad and our thoughts are with his family and especially his wife Lady Norma, his children and his grandchildren.

“I heard some players got some inspiration from it and they wanted a win to mark it. It was an extra motivation, absolutely.

“But the first half was not a good game. We can talk long or we can talk short, it was a poor game from our side and you see it often after internationals, especially us with so many changes, the routines are not there. In the first half we allowed them to make it their game.

“We were too direct, no good organisation, second half we made some changes and you saw we got better, we were more composed and kept the ball.

“We controlled the game and created the chances and then finally we deserved the win and it was a beautiful goal.”

Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom began his playing career at Old Trafford as a teenager and remembers Charlton fondly.

“He was there the day I signed as a 14-year-old,” he said. “He is a man that represented everything that United wanted to be, certainly in terms of developing youth players and getting youth players into the first team.

“It is not only Manchester United that will miss him, English football and I think he was a football icon across the world as well, so there will be a lot of people remembering him, stories they have heard, games they have seen.”

The Blades may feel they deserved something out of the game, especially on the back of a lively first-half performance, but they slipped to an eighth defeat from nine games and a long winter looks on the cards.

But Heckingbottom took the positives.

“In most games we have shown more than enough that we can compete,” he added. “Lots of things that please me in that.

“We have suffered horrendously with injuries in the last 10 days, captain, vice-captain and a couple of other players. We are not going to sulk about it, it is an opportunity for others.

“We looked more of a threat tonight. There are lots of things tonight that we have to build on. It was close. What we had today was more of an all-round threat.”

Manchester United paid tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton with a 2-1 Premier League victory at Sheffield United.

United are mourning one of their greatest ever players following Charlton’s death aged 86 on Saturday morning and goals from Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot ensured they remembered him with victory.

But Erik ten Hag’s side could not be much further away from the one that Charlton famously led to European Cup glory in 1968 as they were lacklustre against a team who have picked up just one point this season.

Defender Dalot was the unlikely hero as he saved their blushes with a 20-yard curler 13 minutes from time after Oli McBurnie’s first-half penalty had cancelled out McTominay’s opener.

It was not a vintage performance, certainly not one fitting of Charlton, but United did at least register back-to-back league victories for the first time this season and Ten Hag will hope this can be a springboard.

The Blades may feel they deserved something out of the game, especially on the back of a lively first-half performance, but they slipped to an eighth defeat from nine games and a long winter looks on the cards.

United captain Bruno Fernandes laid a wreath on the centre circle before kick-off and there was a minute’s applause for the World Cup winner, while the away end gave a rousing rendition of ‘There’s only one Bobby Charlton’.

As emotional as it was for United, they still had a job to do and they had to weather an early storm from the hosts.

The Blades started well and should have led inside the opening three minutes as Gus Hamer’s shot deflected into the path of McBurnie, but with time and space 14 yards out he shot straight at Andre Onana, who gratefully clung on.

The visitors were up against it and Ten Hag used an injury break to gather his players and bark instructions.

It did not immediately make much difference as Onana, much maligned for handling errors this season, produced a strong arm to keep out Cameron Archer’s 20-yard drive.

For all their bluster, the Blades had come away from a strong opening 25 minutes without reward and they were punished as the visitors went ahead against the run of the play in the 28th minute.

McTominay, who rescued his side with two injury-time goals against Brentford before the international break, received the ball from Fernandes and his scuffed effort found its way into the bottom corner.

Things quickly turned sour for for McTominay, though, as just five minutes later he gave away a penalty when he handled James McAtee’s cross.

The incident survived a VAR check and McBurnie stepped up and stroked the spot-kick home for his first goal of the season.

McBurnie almost turned provider in the 41st minute when he slipped in Archer, but Onana bravely stopped with his face.

For all the home pressure, it was Ten Hag’s men who nearly took a lead into the half-time break as they had two late chances.

First Fernandes clipped the crossbar with a dipping free-kick before Rasmus Hojlund was denied by a fine save from Wes Foderingham, who rushed out and deflected the ball wide.

The Blades were on the front foot after the restart and Onana made another impressive stop, palming away Rhian Brewster’s effort after being wrong-footed.

United finally upped their game and created a raft of chances to go back in front.

Foderingham saved from Hojlund when the Dane should have scored, Marcus Rashford rolled wide at the far post and Sofyan Amrabat thundered a fierce 20-yard effort against the crossbar.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 77th minute when Dalot was afforded too much time on the edge of the area and he curled a shot into the top corner, though Foderingham got a hand to it and should have kept it out.

That proved enough as United remembered Charlton with victory which will not live long in the memory.

Manchester United are likely to unveil Rasmus Hojlund as their latest signing during Saturday’s friendly against Lens, the PA news agency understands.

The 20-year-old Denmark striker has completed his medical after United agreed a deal with Atalanta in principle last week worth £64million plus a further £8m in potential add-ons.

Hojlund has agreed a five-year deal with the option of a further season at Old Trafford and will become Erik ten Hag’s third summer signing.

England midfielder Mason Mount arrived from Chelsea in June for £55m and goalkeeper Andre Onana completed his move from Inter Milan last month for a fee of £47.2m.

Serie A side Atalanta paid Sturm Graz a reported £15m for Hojlund last summer and he scored nine goals in 32 league appearances.

Hojlund, who has scored six goals in six senior internationals for Denmark, started out at Copenhagen, making his first-team debut aged 17, and moved on to the Austrian Bundesliga in January 2022.

United play Ligue 1 side Lens at Old Trafford on Saturday (12.45pm) and take on LaLiga side Athletic Bilbao in their final pre-season friendly in Dublin on Sunday (4pm).