Manchester United make contact with Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann

Louis van Gaal says he is 'sick' of talking about Wayne Rooney. He's in a difficult situation, Van Gaal. It's obvious that Rooney has to be dropped, but he likes Rooney and the way he takes on board instructions. He is professional and popular with his team-mates, and he is the captain. But, he is terrible at football. Not just out of form, but a danger to his side's progress. With Jesse Lingard's introduction, it may be that the long-term plan to replace him has started. Make sure Lingard is acclimatised, and put Anthony Martial up front. That means there's Memphis and Rooney on the bench to come on if things aren't working out. That's in the Guardian.

The Telegraph recognised Morgan Schneiderlin's performance for Manchester United, where he was defensively sound. He wasn't quite as good as everyone makes out - he had to play against a defensive Manchester City without Sergio Aguero and David Silva, and he had Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ander Herrera to help him out - but there's no doubt that this midfield three is the best United have had since the days of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves (yes, I know they didn't feature as a three as a matter of course).

The Mirror's transfer round-up reports a Spanish story, that United have made contact with Antoine Griezmann's people. Now, that might not be true now, but they bid for him late in the transfer window in the summer - so this is one to watch for next summer. It would be sensible if United have moved on to targeting people about to become superstars, rather than those who already are.

And for Yahoo, I wrote about how unacceptably dull Manchester United are.