Manchester United chasing both Pedro and Cristiano Ronaldo

Manchester United are trying to open negotiations with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, years after he made the reverse transfer. The fee would presumably be close to the £80 million paid by Real last time, but United would have no problem affording that - the only obstacle would be whether Real were prepared to sell or not. You can read that here, in the Mirror.

In the Manchester Evening News there's a story that David de Gea should feature in the next United friendly to ensure that he's ready for the game against Spurs. It looks increasingly likely - but by no means certain - that United will keep hold of De Gea for another year, and so are planning accordingly. That's here.

United remain interested in Sergio Ramos, and he is due for talks at the weekend to try to press for a move again. This somewhat explains Nicolas Otamendi's transfer being put on hold from Valencia, and Sid Lowe has all the details in this article in the Guardian. This one could drag on for a fair while yet.

In the Telegraph, Barcelona make it clear they won't be low-balled by United for Pedro. His release clause is £22 million. That's nothing, and with Angel Di Maria leaving for PSG for around, if not more, than double that, it's easily affordable. Whether it depends on Ronaldo's move is unclear but unlikely. You can read this here.

Right, so: Darmian, Depay, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Ramos, Pedro and Ronaldo. That'd do.