Breakthrough in United's Thiago deal

There's been a breakthrough in the Thiago deal, according to Sport, with Manchester United now set to give the Barcelona midfielder a contract clause stipulating a release clause should he not play a certain amount of games.

According to the paper, United were reluctant to give him such a clause, since appearances ought to be earned through form, fitness, and training, but David Moyes has insisted that the club do whatever it takes to get their man. The paper clearly states that "everything now looks in place for Thiago to go to Manchester United."

This is good news in a lot of ways. Firstly, it's good because it will hopefully mean we get to sign a fantastic young midfielder. Secondly, it's good because it shows that Moyes is of the right mentality - we've missed out on too many transfers of this ilk for strange reasons in recent years, and it's nice to see us finally push the boat out to get something done. And thirdly, I don't think the clause will be an issue anyway - there should be no danger whatosever of Thiago not getting into our current team.

Hopefully then, this will be the final hurdle. As we predicted, there have been absolutely no developments with regards to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid showing their interest - yet. That could change, of course, but this deal finally looks like getting done soon.