David de Gea set to stay at Manchester United

Good news. Now the World Cup has started it is going to be almost impossible to find enough news about club happenings that the quality of this blog will be absolutely dreadful. You will ask yourselves how that changes from the usual standard, and the answer would be: not one jot. However, now I have an excuse!

Marcus Rashford has been training with the England squad for the first time since he declared that he had a slight niggle. Manchester United fans will want him to have a good World Cup so that he can work through the funk and poor form that he trudged through for the better part of the last Premier League season.

Marcel Desailly seems to have a World Cup column, and given his elegance and intelligence on the pitch, it’s worth listening to him now. He says that Paul Pogba may have to accept that he is not the superstar of the French World Cup squad. Indeed he isn’t, that is Antoine Griezmann, but Pogba plays best when he’s trying to get the limelight, not when he knows he is already in it.

Erstwhile United target Griezmann had a half-hour show last night to announce his decision that he would be staying at Atletico Madrid for another season. That is very, very self-regarding, and as good as he is, it’s probably best to ignore pillocks like him in our transfer dealings.

Real Madrid are rumoured to be closing in on Alisson, the Roma goalkeeper, which means it is increasingly likely that we can both a) laugh at Liverpool’s goalkeepers again next season, and that b) David de Gea will be at Old Trafford for at least one more season. Given Phil Jones and Chris Smalling might be too, that is crucial.

And lastly, Jesse Lingard.