Manchester United prepare to meet £100m Griezmann release clause

Manchester United have been named as the most valuable club in the world. It's no surprise, they are listed on the stock exchange, which inflates the price to comparably sized privately owned clubs (like Bayern, Real Madrid and Barcelona). They have the biggest scope to immediately increase their revenues from returning to the Champions League. And lastly, they have the most cynical, rapacious owners known to man, happy to bleed their players dry for the last advertising cent.

The Antoine Griezmann rumours rumble on, with the latest story that Griezmann does indeed want to leave Atletico Madrid. However, Atletico aren't going to make the transfer easy, for the moment at least, so United will have to stump up £100m for the release clause. It's all a bit of a faff, so United are sensible to get the negotiations underway early, and fortunate not to be doing this while there are no major international tournaments going on.

David de Gea is not for sale, United have told Real Madrid. If United can keep him for one more year then they can focus on getting more pressing matters sorted. A striker, a winger, two new defenders and a couple of midfielders, and then we can start worrying about what De Gea's going to get up to.

Good news, bad news. The excellent Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be leaving United, but so could the absolutely not excellent Wayne Rooney. Rooney seems like he'll be doing one to China soon, and Ibrahimovic's future is unclear as he prepares his recovery from a serious knee injury.

And lastly, United are no longer sharing player data with the FA and national team, for fear it may spread to other sides. Quite right too. There is absolutely no reason to help the FA, and it's about time the useless clowns are treated with the contempt they deserve.