What Real Madrid's transfer ban means for Manchester United

For those of you that don't keep up with the news, Real Madrid and their cross-city rivals Atletico have today been given a one year transfer ban. They will be unable to register any new players for the coming summer window, or for next January's; this current window is unaffected. Obviously, since Manchester United frequently shop in the same kind of places, this will have knock-on effects. Three of them, in fact, by our estimation.

One, David de Gea's move to Real Madrid will not be returning, zombie-like, this next summer. So unless he decides that he simply can't take it any more, then he'll probably be around for at least 2016/17.

Two, given that they can't buy any replacements, it is vanishingly unlikely that Real Madrid will be selling Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, or any of the other super-famous, super-expensive footballers that get Ed Woodward's trousers a-tenting. So we can only hope that United realise this, and waste precisely no more time trying to change that fact.

Three, we just might see a reduction in transfer rumours linking United to any and/or all of those players. Which would be a blessing. Though we say might, since some things just cannot be stopped and the internet doesn't seem to be filling up.

Oh! Four! This probably means Antoine Griezmann isn't going anywhere either. Ah well.