Carlo Ancelotti calls Renato Sanches to Manchester United ‘a possibility’

The Daily Mail have a clip of Gareth Bale and Jose Mourinho exchanging pleasantries before Manchester United’s friendly against Real Madrid. The words were largely meaningless and benign, a joke. But that hasn’t stopped the Mail from spinning it into some kind of baseless transfer-gossip tittle-tattle. In fairness to them, I’ve just linked to it, giving it more attention, despite knowing that it is of almost no merit to anyone with a functioning collection of synapses. By the way, Luke Shaw, I mean no offence to those out there without working neurons. So don’t write in.

Romelu Lukaku has rejected comparisons made between him and Didier Drogba. As well he should. First, there is the lazy comparison made because he is black, and in football, most people simply describe black people as, ‘beasts’ or, ‘athletic,’ and only compare them to other black players. Second, he is far better than Drogba was at his age who, if I remember rightly, started his professional career as a right-back, and took the best part of a decade to start scoring regularly.

There’s a story that Renato Sanches could be an option for Manchester United, but that his colleague Arturo Vidal will stay at Bayern Munich. Depending on the price, it’s probably worth a gamble on Sanches, provided a more reliable option like Nemanja Matic joins, too. Adding more bodies in midfield might also reduce the need to bring in a winger like Ivan Perisic, too.

Andreas Pereira does not expect to go on loan this season. Pereira’s performances, if he has the right attitude, deserve more of a run this season, or at the very least a loan to a Premier League club for six months to prove his worth. He’s technically adept, and if he puts on a bit of protein, going to be a viable alternative to useless, incompetent galoot Marouane Fellaini.

And lastly, there’s an enjoyable tribute to the greatest living Frenchman, Eric Cantona.