“Are you having a holly, jolly Christmas?”
It’s a time spent with our loved ones, consuming large amounts of food and drink and playing board games normally sitting on a shelf, gathering dust, for the remaining 364 days of the year.
However, Christmas is also a time where we make children believe the most ridiculous things, like that well known story of a man in a flying sleigh, guided by magical reindeers, who brings presents to all around the world over the course of 24 hours by illogically fitting down their chimneys.
Well, that story is about as believable as Paulo Dybala to Manchester United for £60m.
We know you’re shocked because it looked like this could be THE Christmas miracle you’ve been waiting for, but we’re not buying it, and nor are the Italian press.
When the story first appeared in England, it came from the tabloid side of things, and it was covered the next day by the media over in Italy.
After all, why wouldn’t they? It’s a big story, and it gives them plenty of debate material.
That’s why, when the newspapers were published on the 27th, articles in England were written about ‘multiple Italian sources’ claiming Manchester United were readying a €68m bid for the Argentinian playmaker.
They weren’t.
In fact, Corriere dello Sport make it very clear the story comes from our side of the Channel, and then they laugh, very hard, at the price quoted.
While the words ‘hahaha’ are never actually written, the fact they dedicate about three paragraphs to Juventus’ valuation of ‘at least’ €100m, with the likely cost being around €150-170m considering how much Neymar and Kylian Mbappé went for in the summer, says it all.
Over at Gazzetta dello Sport, the words Manchester United and Dybala were also on their front page (you know, to sell papers), but that’s about all they have to say, barely mentioning the rumour because, well, they aren’t really believing it.
And before you ask, yes, we did open this article with a quote from How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Now you know why.
