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Like the Pony Express, the rumours must go through. While most of the Manchester United-related content from today's press focuseson yesterday's wonderful and hilarious victory at Anfield, we still have one or two snippets of transfer gossip making their way through.
Take this, from the Telegraph. Apparently chief United scout Jim Lawlor was in Italy on Sunday, watching Lazio beat Verona 2-0. The target of his attention, so the story goes, was 21-year-old Brazilian forward Felipe Anderson, who made the most of things by opening the scoring after four minutes, his tenth goal in thirteen games.
TBB doesn't know much about the lad, but a profile over on World Soccer details his progress from Santos to Lazio: apparently, with "his fearless nature on the ball, quick turn of acceleration and capability to perform the outrageous, comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo are not without merit". Which sounds ideal to us.
The Telegraph reckon £30m might be enough to winkle him away from Rome, though as ever "many of the top clubs in Europe" are also interested. And while we can't claim to know for certain whether this has any truth in it, it seems almost certain that United will be chasing at least one forward this summer. File under: could well be something in it.
Update: Anderson also gets a few paragraphs over on the Guardian. Apparently his slow start in Italy could be blamed, in part, on the fact that "he put on significant weight during his first season simply because he did not know how to order anything other than a spaghetti carbonara and a fizzy drink when he went out for dinner."