WHY SAY ANYTHING?

According to The Guardian Manchester United manager José Mourinho is interested in signing Diogo Dalot of Porto. He has a release clause of €20 million but, reportedly, this has not yet been triggered.

That is, unless you read the Daily Express, who say that United have triggered his release clause which means that he will be signing in the not too distant future.

He is a 19-year old right back who can also play on the left and in midfield. This would be a signing designed to give some competition to Antonio Valencia which, in fairness, shouldn’t be too difficult for anybody half competent in the art of defending!

Mourinho also wants to sign Toby Alderweireld to supplement his other central defensive success stories, Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof.

Add to this the signing of the Brazilian midfielder Fred, (where else could he be from with a name like that?), and this could be a reasonable transfer window for United.

Alternatively, we could all start talking about Gareth Bale who, whilst not necessarily needed at Old Trafford, would still improve the squad. This then makes the transfer window what it really is, which is silly season!

Meanwhile, Manchester City are pondering the wisdom of signing Kylian M’Bappé along with Jorginho and Riyad Mahrez. Is this just a Manchester thing? Make a couple of decent signings then go all out to spend far more than is necessary on just one player whether he is needed or not?

Who knows? But with United being linked, by some papers, to Joe Hart then there is every reason to believe that the football world has gone slightly madder than it usually does at this time of year.

What is far more likely to happen is that M’Bappe will sign for PSG, where he is currently on loan, and Bale will stay at Real Madrid because he will believe, once again, that he will be given more game starts next season.

Liverpool have actually signed a player. As everybody knows, for the last two years at least, they have been in desperate need of a world-class goalkeeper and have been expecting Jürgen Klopp to address this situation as a matter of urgency for…….well…… the last two years!

So he has bought Fabinho from Monaco! No, we know he isn’t a goalkeeper unless Klopp knows something about him that nobody else, including his parents, knows. No, he is a midfielder and a pretty good one at that.

So along with Naby Keita and, possibly, Nabil Fekir Liverpool should have a very good midfield next season.

The problem with that is that they had a very good midfield last season. Initially their defence was letting them down until they signed Virgil van Dijk, which immediately improved them but, what they haven’t improved is the position that has continually let them down irrespective of how well the defence has played, and that is goalkeeper.

Never mind, Klopp will sort it out this transfer window, maybe. In your own time, Jürgen! Whenever you’re ready, that’s fine by the fans! No rush!

Arsenal have decided, as previously reported by our illustrious selves, to make Paul Merson’s life on Soccer Saturday as difficult as possible by signing players with names that no amount of practice will have him pronouncing correctly.

Come on Unai, have a heart, the poor lad already struggles with words containing five or more letters without his favourite football club adding to his misery.

Just for the record, Arsenal are looking to bring Sokratis Papastathopoulos to the club and have held talks with Stephan Lichtsteiner with a view to signing him on a free transfer. Good luck with those two Merse!

Chelsea won’t be signing anybody because they don’t appear to know who will be the manager next season. Somebody at the club is expressing an interest in Gareth Bale but that could just be paper-talk whilst even more paper-talk suggests that Roman Abramovich has promised Lucas Vazquez, of Real Madrid, more playing time if he makes the move to London.

And you thought it was the manager who bought the players for Chelsea! Mind you, so did Antonio Conte!

And finally…..

Tottenham Hotspur, in a bid to remain in the top four and convince everyone that they are a big club, will move into their new 60,000 seater stadium. Named White Hart Lane in memory of their old, not-quite-60,000 seater stadium, they will expect to be able to attract a better quality of player.

So, with Champion’s League football, an energetic and ambitious manager as well as the move, what is there to stop them?

Well, there’s Daniel Levy for one and there’s the pay policy for two!

Gareth Bale, for example, regardless of what the press are saying, will not return to Tottenham. He isn’t from the area and, therefore, doesn’t love the club enough to take the massive pay-cut required for them to be able to afford him.

Consequently Spurs will not be signing any big name players this time around. Never mind, at least Paul Merson will have an easier life with his London rivals, than with his old club!