Over to you Ed: Man United boss has transfer in hands, can complete for Mourinho when he chooses

 

Even Spanish radio seem bored of Alvaro Morata to Manchester United. Able to rival the English media for taking a punt and jumping the gun, Spanish radio is a staple of the rumour circus.

Every summer they’re held aloft as hugely reliable, and every summer a string of claims come out which never turn into anything, or, as likely with Morata, punts are taken on timing and things exaggerated.

Like some other forms of media, it’s concluded that taking a punt on a timeframe is always worth it. If ‘Morata set to fly early next week’ doesn’t turn true then there’s a myriad of ways to explain it other than ‘oops, I did it again’.

So, back to the here and now. On Monday Spanish newspaper AS made a huge online fuss about Morata being a step away from Manchester United, and they also put it out on their English version, many hits followed, but, as we pointed out, not a lot was really said.

That step Morata is still to take is a rather big one… Real Madrid and Manchester United agreeing a fee.

A clue to the importance AS truly give their own update can be seen by the lack of prominence they give it in their Tuesday newspaper: A very small section on page 11.

In comparison, Borja Mayoral’s possible rise to prominence gets around three times as much space.

Again it’s stated Morata is ‘very close’ to signing for Manchester United, but also that the two clubs haven’t yet agreed a price.

The clubs stopped talking to each other when Morata got married, which makes little sense unless they went on honeymoon with him.

Marca, who have admirably left the jumping of guns to others during this one, have even less coverage. There’s no Morata article in their Tuesday edition, with the player mentioned as potentially leaving as Marca go through just how strong the Real Madrid squad is for next season.

And that’s it. Things haven’t moved since it was reported weeks ago that Morata had agreed to make the transfer and Manchester United needed to agree a fee with Real Madrid.

One real update is that Morata’s wife has started following Manchester United on Instagram.

There seems to be a Spanish assumption that, sooner or later, likely sooner, Manchester United will pay up. This one is all down to Ed Woodward and whenever he feels ready to offer a package Real Madrid feel they can say yes to.

Manchester United fans need this signing doing quickly, if only to stop them all trying to kill each other on social media over Fabinho and Nemanja Matic.