Manchester United prepare Martial-Willian swap

Excellent news! Alex Ferguson is out of intensive care as he starts to recover from his brain surgery. There’s nothing pleasant about this whole episode, but we can hope that he makes a full and speedy recovery to see Jose Mourinho’s Premier League triumph in 2018/19, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s repeated success at the Champions League final in this year and the next decade after that.

Things are looking a bit bleaker, though, for Wayne Rooney. Having definitely been world class for all of the years he was at Manchester United, he has somehow fallen so dramatically that he is now not even able to play for Everton, and will have to jump ship to MLS powerhouses DC United. These kind of moves always seem a risk - yes, he’ll get a huge wedge of cash for a couple of years, but he is so physically wrecked that young Americans will absolutely destroy him with their fitness, if not their ability.

Yaya Toure has singled out Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic as his toughest opponent. With Michael Carrick on his way out, and into the coaching staff, United could do worse than stock their midfield with Toure as their creative replacement, and buying another, younger player for the long term alongside Paul Pogba and Matic. It’s obviously not going to happen, but neither are lots of things.

And lastly, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is happy to let Anthony Martial go, and is prepared for him to join Premier League rivals Chelsea sign him. There’s something that he wants in return though. He will expect £20m in cash and Brazilian winger Willian in return. There’s nothing inherently wrong in signing players that old, but younger players will need to be brought in elsewhere or the squad will be absolutely chuffed in two seasons.