Are Man Utd really ‘ahead of’ Spurs in the transfer market?

Matt Stead

Dat herb
‘ARE THESE AMERICAN STARS TOO ARROGANT?’ asked Ian Herbert in the Daily Mail on July 1. It seemed a weird question to ask two days ago; a third consecutive World Cup final confirms it as utter nonsense.

‘Though Rapinoe brings a determination to use this spotlight to promote diversity and call out discrimination, the question is whether the side’s superstardom has actually made them a little too confident,’ Herbert wrote, eager for our brave Lionesses to teach them a lesson in modesty.

‘England captain Steph Houghton spoke yet again on Sunday about the importance of humility to England. It is a very hard commodity to locate in the US team who are seeking to win an unprecedented fourth World Cup here,’ he added.

His closing paragraph?

‘It is not inconceivable that complacency and hubris prove fateful for Ellis’ team of all-conquering multi-millionaires.’

Lovely. Presumably the apology is forthcoming now this ‘arrogant’, ‘complacent’ squad of ‘multi-millionaires’ proved nothing other than the fact that, as suspected, they’re really bloody good?

Not so. Herbert now refers to the ‘outstanding’ United States as ‘faster, stronger, tougher and smarter than the pretenders to their throne’, but there is no mention of them being ‘TOO ARROGANT’. Funny, that.

 

Anyone for tea?
Herbert also says nothing of Alex Morgan’s celebration for the winning goal. Mediawatch can only assume he was too incensed to articulate his thoughts.

Juventus striker Lianne Sanderson had plenty to say for beIN SPORTS, mind:

“I expected Alex to grab a goal but I’m not that happy with that celebration.

“You can celebrate how you want, but for me that is a bit distasteful, and I don’t think she needs to do that.

“I’m a big believer in the Americans and how they celebrate but for me this was a little bit disrespectful.

“For me, I could be wrong, but it’s based upon playing against England, we love our tea in England, I’m not a tea drinker but that’s what we’re connected with so I think it’s a little bit distasteful.”

“You can celebrate how you want”…but I’d rather you didn’t celebrate how you wanted against England.

If only there was a popular British idiom to describe this whole situation.

 

Independence day
The Sun 
are regrettably not furious with Morgan over the celebration – at least not outwardly so. But they do write the following:

‘Alex Morgan left a bitter taste after downing England in the Women’s World Cuppa.

‘The USA star sipped an imaginary cup of tea with her winner – in a nod to Boston and the War of Independence.’

Or to a dated stereotype about drinking tea. Either that or she had the peace of mind and awareness to send a political message about something that happened 246 years ago in the aftermath of scoring a rather good goal in a World Cup semi-final.

 

United front
Now over to our favourite website, where ‘Manchester United have made a transfer statement this summer’.

They certainly have. Making Sean Longstaff one of your priorities after eight career Premier League starts can only ever be described as a ‘statement’.

It is of course the Manchester Evening News who say ‘United are ahead of all of their top rivals when it comes to getting business done this summer’.

May Mediawatch introduce you to Champions League runners-up Tottenham, who finished five points ahead of United last season but have already spent more, breaking their club transfer record in the process.

MEN man Tyrone Marshall also kindly points out that ‘there is plenty of ground to make up’ on ‘their top rivals’, which certainly goes some way to explaining why they ‘are ahead of’ all of them: they have signed more players than Manchester City and Liverpool because they bloody well have to.

‘A statement of intent was required, and it has arrived with the £70million bid for Harry Maguire. United have long needed a top level central defender, but until recently there was still no guarantee they would pursue one this summer. Repeating the errors of a year ago would have been a costly mistake.’

So the ‘statement of intent’ is a £70m bid – the actual legitimacy of which has been denied by Leicester themselves – for a centre-half they know is valued at closer to £90m.

Be afraid, Premier League elite. Be very afraid.

 

In for the Kyl
You know how Kylian Mbappe is joining Liverpool because he likes playing as them on FIFA, he followed some of their players (and others) on Instagram, Jamie Carragher jokingly retweeted a fake account saying he had joined and he had a photo with free agent Daniel Sturridge while on holiday?

Well think again, because he ‘has dropped a hint over his future’ yet again. And he ‘appears to have put such speculation to bed with one of his latest tweets – at least for the summer’.

Oh good. What’s he done this time? Expressed his happiness in Paris? Pointed out that him saying Jurgen Klopp is “good” is not a ‘transfer hint’? Called Divock Origi a bad meff?

Nope…

The above tweet – for that is the ‘hint’ in its entirety – ‘will come as a huge disappointment to Liverpool fans’. Much in the same way that they were definitely celebrating when Mbappe said he ‘could emulate Reds star with career move’…by following Steven Gerrard in eventually playing in America.

 

Strange headline of the day
‘Why Romelu Lukaku wants Man Utd transfer update by the end of the week’ – top of the Daily Mirror website.

Because his future is quite important to him?

 

Rob from the rich
On their back page, The Sun exclusively claim that Roberto Martinez could be headed to Newcastle. Buried in the story is the following line:

‘Ashley will be expected to put together a very attractive package – including assurances over investment in the squad Benitez left behind.’

Has Mike McGrath only just been made aware of Mike Ashley?

 

Recommended reading of the day
Jonathan Wilson on England.

Mark Critchley on England.

Rory Smith on the United States.