Manchester United could bid for Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic

Manchester United have launched a “dazzling £35 bid” for Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez. Manchester City remain the favourites for the player, but United could force City’s hand into upping their bid, and cost them a fair whack too. At the very least, the twin interest will help Sanchez’s agents scrape more money from wherever he ends up. Sanchez would be a handy player to stick on the right wing instead of Juan Mata, but he would also be a better replacement than Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the times that Romelu Lukaku is given a rest.

United face competition for the signature of Antoine Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid had been expected to join them in the summer, but then seemed to be on the verge of joining Barcelona. It seems that move is in doubt, too, but last night Liverpool emerged as the bookies’ favourites to sign the French forward. Even Liverpool fans are sceptical about the likelihood of that coming off.

In The Telegraph, they believe that United are considering two other options for striking replacements. There’s Jamie Vardy, who seems deeply unpleasant even if he has done exceptionally well to progress from the lower leagues - and would be a reason to give up on supporting United. And there’s Javier Hernandez, who has failed to impress at West Ham United.

I missed this: Juan Mata is The Guardian’s 2017 footballer of the year. While he’s done alright on the pitch, it’s mainly because he’s a sound bloke. There don’t appear to be many of them left in football.

Manchester United regard Christian Pulisic as a marketing man’s dream, because he is American, and thus will consider bidding for him should other clubs come in for him. Football really is a depressing morass, and it is hard to see where we go from here.