Manchester United move swiftly for Valencia's Nicolas Otamendi and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling

Good morning. Someone put the croissants in the oven and get the milk out of the coffee. I'm not quite sure how you manage the latter one. To the news!

Manchester United have enquired about Liverpool's Raheem Sterling. That matches a story from a couple of months ago when the who contract dispute was kicking off, and has now resurfaced. Now, it's hardly likely to come from Liverpool, because it'll only make their fans hugely furious - unless they're prepping them for him to move to Manchester City and then using it to seem like the least worst option. The next possibility is that United have leaked the story, but the story came from the Liverpool Echo. Hardly the paper United would be leaking to. The other possibility is that it's the agent stirring up trouble, for a change. This move won't happen, but it is a very, very funny story that will only hurt Liverpool regardless of the outcome, so let's have a drink. Read about the story, not the drink, in The Guardian.

In The Mirror, there are couple of stories. One is that Pep Guardiola is dragging his heels on deciding his future. City have obviously tried to get him a year earlier than his contract ends, but with Manuel Pellegrini probably staying, that appears to have failed for now. Guardiola is apparently weighing up the chances of replacing Louis van Gaal in the future before deciding on City.

John Cross says that Gareth Bale will be staying at Real Madrid. You can read and dismiss that one here.

At ESPNFC, John Brewin has looked at possible replacements for David de Gea. He includes Bernd Leno, Hugo Lloris, Victor Valdes, Petr Cech, Samir Handandovic, Jan Oblak and Jasper Cillessen.

There's bad transfer news, too. Mats Hummels has reportedly decided he will remain at Dortmund, raising questions as to which are the two players that United have already lined up to sign when Van Gaal wants them. You can read that on Goal. Conversely, United have apparently struck an agreement with Valencia player Nicolas Otamendi, with a fee yet to be negotiated. Read more of that in The Daily Mail.