De Bruyne SHOWDOWN and Trent ‘snubs’ an imaginary transfer to Real Madrid

When do talks become a SHOWDOWN? Kevin de Bruyne is having one or the other with Man City while Liverpool have been boosted by their own decision…

Showdown hoedown
Question: When do ‘talks’ become a showdown?

When your Daily Mail journalist has written that ‘MANCHESTER CITY will hold talks’ with Kevin de Bruyne and then that talks are ‘scheduled’ – because he is out of contract next summer and that’s pretty bloody standard – but you need a bombastic back page, that’s when.

Suddenly it’s a ‘SHOWDOWN’. Because that’s exactly how City are likely to treat one of their legendary players who has given phenomenal service over the last nine years.

The Express go even further and claim that De Bruyne has been ‘called in for showdown talks with Man City over Saudi ‘agreement”. It’s now not even ‘scheduled talks’; he has been summoned.

Kevin De Bruyne will reportedly be called in for showdown talks with Manchester City bosses when he returns to the Etihad Stadium ahead of the new campaign.

Or alternatively, he will have a conversation with the club as he enters the final year of his contract. Much like every other player approaching the end of their deal.

The Sun‘s back page is a curiosity because it trumpets the Premier League futures of De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold and claims they offer a BIG BOOST to PREM GIANTS.

Do they not know that the PREM GIANTS in question are the ones making those decisions? The players can’t actually leave unless a) a buying club offers the amount Liverpool and Manchester City want and b) Liverpool and Manchester City decide to accept that amount.

Neither De Bruyne nor Alexander-Arnold can decide of their own volition to leave. So the idea that the Liverpool man has ‘snubbed’ Real Madrid is almost as ludicrous as The Sun ever claiming to have a Liverpool exclusive.

The ‘exclusive’ tale is that ‘Trent Alexander-Arnold is committed to Liverpool this season despite interest from Real Madrid’.

No sh*t. Even ignoring the small matter of him having no real say in the matter unless a) and b) happen as detailed above, Alexander-Arnold would probably quite like a hefty signing-on bonus if he does leave his boyhood club.

As Miguel Delaney of The Independent put it last week:

One player who very much likes Bellingham is Alexander-Arnold, their friendship strengthening

Touched on in article, but Alexander-Arnold basically thinking about seeing how Liverpool go for a year – but Madrid increasingly temptinghttps://t.co/sRBxs3KA9k

— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) July 18, 2024

‘Seeing how Liverpool go’ was the verdict almost a week ago, and now we are told that he is ‘committed to Kop’ and ‘snubbing Real’? You are describing exactly the same thing, fellas.

You know what would show he was actually committed? Signing that new contract, that’s what.

The online version of the story goes even further:

TRE-MENDOUS Trent Alexander-Arnold to be offered monstrous new Liverpool deal and will snub Real Madrid transfer interest

It really is TRE-MENDOUS news that Alexander-Arnold will not make a move to Real Madrid this summer that was never really viable.

But what about Man Utd?
Obviously not a soul will read a story about a Manchester City player potentially joining Everton unless you can somehow make it about Manchester United.

Enter the Mirror:

Kalvin Phillips to repeat Man Utd trick in effort to revive career – but it might not work

We are genuinely intrigued. As far as we know, Phillips has no real connection to Man Utd. What trick is he hoping to ‘repeat’?

And we only have to wait five paragraphs for the answer:

Should Phillips join Everton, it will not be the first time a midfielder playing in Manchester has completed a loan move to Goodison Park to try and revive their career. Donny van de Beek joined Everton on loan in January 2022 after struggling at Manchester United after a £35m move from Ajax.

FFS.

Though to be fair, we wouldn’t bet against Phillips repeating the ‘trick’ of five Premier League starts before being sent back from whence we came.

The end is De Gea
The desperation for Manchester United transfer news is such that The Sun shamelessly lands here:

David de Gea, 33, ‘ready to rejoin Man Utd when Erik ten Hag leaves with major update on future expected this week’

They do seem to have carelessly omitted the word ‘was’, which would have made it clear that De Gea would have returned to United last season if Ten Hag was sacked and he was asked by his successor to return.

As The Sun admit after about a zillion paragraphs: ‘While De Gea is set to announce his new club shortly, he is highly unlikely to return to Old Trafford even after Murtough’s exit.’

Somehow ‘highly unlikely’ sounds several degrees too likely.

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