When footballers are quoted in newspapers these days you have to wonder if they are talking through the mouths of smooth talking agents. Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has joined Tottenham Hotspur just two weeks after claiming it would be a step down to play for any Premier League club except Manchester United. It begs the question of whether he was being genuine or if was he just giving a ‘come on’ from his agent in a desperate attempt to attract an offer from manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

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If previous meetings between Manchester United and West Ham are any indication, there should be plenty of goals put away on Saturday. The two clubs have often turned on the entertainment with scorelines of 5-3 at Upton Park and 6-0 at Old Trafford but the 7-1 on the first April Fools day of the ‘noughties’ stands out as the biggest defeat the Hammers ever suffered at the hands of United. One of the highlights was Paul Scholes’ first hat trick for the club but a young Rio Ferdinand lining up in the West Ham defence must have wondered what hit him. Perhaps the biggest sympathy must go to Hammers goalkeeper Craig Forrest who was on the receiving end of the heaviest Premiership defeat in history when Ipswich went down 9-0 to United five years earlier.

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An army of world wide Manchester United fans only have a matter of hours to wait before discovering what the European Champions League has in store. With the lone exception of 1995-96 when the runner up in the previous season’s domestic league did not have an automatic right to qualify as they do these days, it will be the nineteenth consecutive year in which United has been in the draw of Europe’s most prestigious tournament – a record that no other Premier League club can claim, but the anticipation never fails to maintain its intensity.

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Reports have surfaced recently indicating that the interest rates on Manchester United’s infamous PIK loans have increased from 14.75% to 16.75% because of an inability to repay funds owed to Citadel, Och Ziff and Perry Capital (the three hedge funds with whom the debt was originally taken out), as specified in the terms of United’s debt restructuring back in 2006. So what does this mean for United? Is the price to pay for this situation a scaling back of investment in new players or price hikes as we fans often fear? It’s probably best to start from the beginning to see where this could lead to.

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You really have to hand it to the old fox. While all the attention has been on the “Will he” or “Won’t he” attempt to sign German international Mesut Ozil, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has snuck under everybody’s radar to complete the transfer of the relatively unknown 20 year old Portugese striker Bebe from Vitoria de Guimaraes for a reported £7.4m
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Is anyone else getting sick and tired of what is fast becoming the transfer saga of the summer? The headlines first scream that Werder Bremen is about to get an offer from Sir Alex Ferguson for their 21 year old German international Mesut Ozil but then we read that Ozil has signed an agreement with Real Madrid to move to Spain after completing his contract in 12 months time. There are now reports that Ozil is pleading for his club to reduce the £16m asking price. If that’s true, it’s the clearest indication yet that the talented midfielder has no intention of waiting to get away on a ‘Bosman’ next year. So what’s going on?
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