Barcelona ready to "give up" on Thiago, United deal imminent

A report from Marca this morning states that Barcelona have given up hope of keeping Thiago from signing for Manchester United and will make it clear soon that the player will leave.

It's been widely reported that Thiago and Barca will meet to formalise his departure, although the meeting hasn't been said to have taken place yet. The story was that Barcelona only wanted to hear it in person from the player, although there were some suggestions they might make one last plea. Now, Marca say they won't even do that, and are resigned to his departure.

Some of this has been talked down on Twitter because "their source is the Daily Mail." That's not really true - they do mention the Daily Mail, but only as a source to determine what United's contract offer was. You can point out that Marca have a history of being unreliable when it comes to other clubs, but that's mostly when they report on really out-there transfer gossip, not things that are happening to their greatest rivals.

As always, we shall see. Meanwhile, it's been reported elsewhere in the Spanish press that talk of Rooney to Barcelona is nonsense - big surprise - and that United want the deal for Thiago wrapped up this week. I've said before that I'd be surprised if it dragged on longer than the end of the month one way or the other, but I think that the next big news will be the player making his decision.