Manchester United battle Barcelona for Toby Alderweireld

England won a game, and they played well. That is confusing enough, but when it happens in 2018 the only logical thing is to assume that it’s going to be a sign of the end of the world. That might seem an overreaction until you consider one thing - Marcus Rashford scored, against Spain, on purpose. Rashford has been in woeful form of late, and struggled to develop his game at all. He clearly has talent, so the confidence boost that comes from the goal could be enough to kickstart his career again. Yes, I don’t believe any of that could happen either.

In The Daily Telegraph, Michael Carrick spoke of the mental side of the game that he struggled with. He talked of finding life at the World Cup with England intolerable, and wanting to get out of the situation. Some players simply do not enjoy international football, and given the dysfunctional state both of England’s national side and of the country itself, it is no wonder that Carrick would have preferred to be doing literally anything else with his time.

In the Independent, Carrick discusses his prospects of management, which is fine until you consider he was tactically inflexible and showed no sign of learning over the course of a decade at Old Trafford.

The Glazer family, the one that lumbered United with hundreds of millions of debt and took £1bn out of the club at the same time, who destroyed United over the last few years with their lack of care and competence, don’t want to sell up to Saudi Arabia. That’s fair enough, but it’s also exactly what they would say in order to maximise the price they could get in any sale or part-sale.

Manchester United will face competition for Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld. Luckily, as one of the biggest names in world football they have an advantage when it comes to signing - wait - Barcelona want him. You should join them, Toby, they are much better.