With Mount José in danger of erupting at any moment, you’d think that Ed Woodward would have sprung into action by now. At the very least, Manchester United’s chief suit could have invested in a big hose in case Mount José starts to spew lava all over Old Trafford.
But inertia seems to have taken hold at the biggest club in England. While the papers are full of stories about United’s players deciding to give Mount José a swerve, there aren’t any about new signings.
Still, there’s one about Anthony Martial going to Paris Saint-Germain, Marcos Rojo heading to Everton for £30m and Leicester offering Harry Maguire a new £95,000-a-week contract. Willian, meanwhile, says he wants to stay at Chelsea and Mount José continues to bubble away, the temperature rising, the rumbling growing ever louder. The Mill, who feels like it has seen this disaster film before, is braced for a spectacular explosion.
The mood at Chelsea is calm by comparison, even though Maurizio Sarri looks set to miss out on Gonzalo Higuaín. While the Juventus striker is close to joining Milan on loan, Sarri’s contingency plan is to sign Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski instead. The strengthening will continue with a £30m move for Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey, a swoop for Internazionale’s Uruguayan midfielder Matías Vecino and a £35.5m deal for Juve defender Mattia Caldara.
Chelsea plan to finance the above by selling Olivier Giroud to Marseille and loaning Danny Drinkwater to West Ham, who also like the look of Porto striker Moussa Marega. Elsewhere in London, Tottenham have been told they will have to pay £70m to prise Geoffrey Kondogbia away from Valencia. Daniel Levy is going to think about it.
While Levy does that, let’s wrap up any remaining business. Lyon are in the market for a new centre-back and have their eyes on Crystal Palace’s Mamadou Sakho and United’s Victor Lindelof, and will rival Everton for Barcelona’s Yerry Mina. Burnley want Southampton’s Fraser Forster as cover for Tom Heaton and Nick Pope, Lazio have been quoted £7m for Arsenal’s Lucas Pérez, Cardiff City will pay £12m for Watford’s Troy Deeney and Newcastle are likely to be priced out of a move for Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico. Mount Rafa is liable to erupt any day now.
