Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12

Vic Vinegar

bernardamaac. wrote: »

You've got to be taking the pi$$..Id take cheik tiote,parker or even dembele over him he's terrible.Hes worse than carrick.He sits behind xavi iniesta and marks the other teams forward...Never once seen him make a good pass or a great tackle lots of rolling and pretending but hes good at intercepting.Fletcher 2008-2009 season before his bowl disease/injury.Busquets well never be that good or even compare to what fletch done that season.He might have the medal's but only deserve's it as much as terry last season.

Witty.

J. Marston

double GG wrote: »

Almost got sick reading the bitching on the last 10 pages, but hey 18 days till the PL starts again.

18 days?! Chriiiiiiiiiiist.

Jimmy Iovine

J. Marston wrote: »

18 days?! Chriiiiiiiiiiist.

And add another 2 until our match .

tupac_healy

bernardamaac. wrote: »

You've got to be taking the pi$$..Id take cheik tiote,parker or even dembele over him he's terrible.Hes worse than carrick.He sits behind xavi iniesta and marks the other teams forward...Never once seen him make a good pass or a great tackle lots of rolling and pretending but hes good at intercepting.Fletcher 2008-2009 season before his bowl disease/injury.Busquets well never be that good or even compare to what fletch done that season.He might have the medal's but only deserve's it as much as terry last season.

And 'Event' said I would make a bad scout

tupac_healy

J. Marston wrote: »

18 days?! Chriiiiiiiiiiist.

18 days ain't so bad, regardless if we have addressed the gaping hole in CM or not I feel confident that we have the defensive qualities and the attacking flair to at least be challanging for the title again this season... i.e. top 2....


Anyone think we will fail to get out of the CL group (again) this year? :eek:

Winston Payne

Serious, serious questions would have to be asked if we guffed the group stages again. Last year was a disaster. Two in a row would be so damaging.




I see Modric as Alonso's eventual replacement. He's better on the ball than Khedira and he's more moblie on it than Alonso.

event

Samich wrote: »

This is the Man Utd forum, not Tuesdays with Morrie.

seeing as you like being pedantic, its the Man Utd thread, not forum.




















:pac:

---

seriously though, this kid Brady. Do ye reckon he'll get a serious chance in the first team this year?
I know it was said he could play lb as cover if needed in pre season (or something) but will he be in the team much or likely to be shipped off on loan?

scudzilla

Winston Payne wrote: »

Serious, serious questions would have to be asked if we guffed the group stages again. Last year was a disaster. Two in a row would be so damaging.




I see Modric as Alonso's eventual replacement. He's better on the ball than Khedira and he's more moblie on it than Alonso.

Wouldn't have been that bad if we'd put in a decent run in the Mickey Mouse cup but even that didn't happen

Mitch Connor

event wrote: »

seriously though, this kid Brady. Do ye reckon he'll get a serious chance in the first team this year?
I know it was said he could play lb as cover if needed in pre season (or something) but will he be in the team much or likely to be shipped off on loan?

I don;t think he is going to make it at United. I do think he could be a very good Champ player, maybe lower prem, but not a top 4 player imo.

As for what will happen to him this season, I reckon a loan is most likely, but if we don't sign a left back he will likely stay as we need the cover, whether he can actually play there or not - he is left footed and thats probably all the qualification he'd need at the moment.

Al Capwned

tupac_healy wrote: »

So, if Utd had the oppertunity to take Busquets or Martinez, who would people choose?
Javi Martinez for me, he just oozes quality

Busquets, for all the bad press and negativity, is one of the best footballers in the world - Sheer quality, and would be my #3 ideal signing, if I were given a choice, behind the two obvious ones. Busquets in the current United team would make us one serious, serious team.

bernardamaac. wrote: »

You've got to be taking the pi$$..Id take cheik tiote,parker or even dembele over him he's terrible.Hes worse than carrick.He sits behind xavi iniesta and marks the other teams forward...Never once seen him make a good pass or a great tackle lots of rolling and pretending but hes good at intercepting.Fletcher 2008-2009 season before his bowl disease/injury.Busquets well never be that good or even compare to what fletch done that season.He might have the medal's but only deserve's it as much as terry last season.

Just :eek:

nicklauski

bernardamaac. wrote: »

You've got to be taking the pi$$..Id take cheik tiote,parker or even dembele over him he's terrible.Hes worse than carrick.He sits behind xavi iniesta and marks the other teams forward...Never once seen him make a good pass or a great tackle lots of rolling and pretending but hes good at intercepting.Fletcher 2008-2009 season before his bowl disease/injury.Busquets well never be that good or even compare to what fletch done that season.He might have the medal's but only deserve's it as much as terry last season.

Can this go in the post of the year thread!

Best laugh I've had in ages.

Macca07

Linked with Celtic's Victor Wanyama again this morning, from the Daily Mail.

I know it's the Daily Mail, but is this guy any good? Reports of £7 million. Would he improve our midfield?

Schism

Macca07 wrote: »

Linked with Celtic's Victor Wanyama again this morning, from the Daily Mail.

I know it's the Daily Mail, but is this guy any good? Reports of £7 million. Would he improve our midfield?

He'd be a good addition to he squad but I don't know if he'd be a definite improvement. He did well for Celtic by all accounts last year but that doesn't mean he could hack it at the top of the EPL.

He's young, 21 (but for all we know he could be 28!) and already quite strong and energetic. He'd definitely add more tenacity.

Jax Teller

nicklauski wrote: »

Can this go in the post of the year thread!

Best laugh I've had in ages.

Go through his other posts in the soccer forum . There is another great one about Busquets

Giggsy11

Hopefully we don't sign any more squad players who are good enough to improve the squad only. We need first team players and the players who can improve our first team. We have enough squad players in the midfield. Likes of Anderson, Cleverley can do that job.

Adamcp898

Before I start I'm not one of the people that doesn't rate Busquets, but if he was signed would people really be happy with a Carrick Busquets midfield two?

Yes Scholes is a first choice player but I don't see him playing two games a week much and so I don't see those two making for a particularly creative midfield, certainly neither would substitute for what Scholes does. I just don't see Busquets solving our problem, no matter how much he breaks play up, he wouldn't have Xavi to give a five yard pass to.

Mars Bar

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Before I start I'm not one of the people that doesn't rate Busquets, but if he was signed would people really be happy with a Carrick Busquets midfield two?

Yes Scholes is a first choice player but I don't see him playing two games a week much and so I don't see those two making for a particularly creative midfield, certainly neither would substitute for what Scholes does. I just don't see Busquets solving our problem, no matter how much he breaks play up, he wouldn't have Xavi to give a five yard pass to.

I could only see a Busquests OR Carrick with one of Cleverley, Scholes and Anderson pairing either of them off.

Schism

Mars Bar wrote: »

I could only see a Busquests OR Carrick with one of Cleverley, Scholes and Anderson pairing either of them off.

Was going to say the same thing. If we had Busquets, Carrick wouldn't get a sniff.

Adamcp898

Mars Bar wrote: »

I could only see a Busquests OR Carrick with one of Cleverley, Scholes and Anderson pairing either of them off.

Yeah I just don't have faith in Clev or Ando getting it done and then with Scholesy having to sit out some games I think we'd just be back to looking a bit lacking in there hence why I don't think he's the answer. Would be a wonderful addition if Scholes had been replaced already but I feel that should be number 1.

Sgt Pepper 64

Saw this and thought of you all

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/a-collection-of-people-animals-and-things-which-look-like-david-d

Copper_pipe

MUFCInsider ‏@UnitedTalk247
Agent Jan de Visser has confirmed that Fulham have already turned down one Manchester United bid for Moussa Dembele this summer. #MUFC

Schism

Any idea how much was offered Copper_pipe?

Jame Gumb

Mars Bar wrote: »

Carrick with one of Cleverley, Scholes and Anderson

Afternoon Folks...

Can anyone honestly look at those players above and claim that any are world class? Scholes obviously was but at his age it isn't fair to rely on him. In the space of a decade, we've gone from Keane and Scholes (with support from Butt) to a sort of rag tag "it'll be alright on the night" approach to midfield.

Look at City...Toure, Silva and Barry. Top class. Look at Barca or Real...top class.

He's arguably the greatest manager of all time but there's a stubbornness about Fergie that is an obvious strength but it's also a weakness. I'm a passionate United and Fergie fan (we all are) but sometimes I'd love to confront him and ask him "What are you thinking...Will you just sign a couple of top class midfielders and stop looking at trick-a-the-loop wingers that we don't need?!".

Our midfield problems genuinely annoy / upset me and I'm guessing that I'm not alone.

J

Your Airbag

bernardamaac. wrote: »

You've got to be taking the pi$$..Id take cheik tiote,parker or even dembele over him he's terrible.Hes worse than carrick.He sits behind xavi iniesta and marks the other teams forward...Never once seen him make a good pass or a great tackle lots of rolling and pretending but hes good at intercepting.Fletcher 2008-2009 season before his bowl disease/injury.Busquets well never be that good or even compare to what fletch done that season.He might have the medal's but only deserve's it as much as terry last season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijDdpNxPyPU

Mars Bar

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Saw this and thought of you all

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/a-collection-of-people-animals-and-things-which-look-like-david-d

I called the De Gea and Dr. Seuss characters look-alikes when he joined! Funny how he looks like almost all of the main characters!

Copper_pipe

Schism wrote: »

Any idea how much was offered Copper_pipe?

£10 million is what is being reported and Fulham want £15m

Mars Bar

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Afternoon Folks...

Can anyone honestly look at those players above and claim that any are world class? Scholes obviously was but at his age it isn't fair to rely on him.

In the space of a decade, we've gone from Keane and Scholes (with support from Butt) to a sort of rag tag "it'll be alright on the night" approach to midfield.

Look at City...Toure, Silva and Barry. Top class. Look at Barca or Real...top class.

He's arguably the greatest manager of all time but there's a stubbornness about Fergie that is an obvious strength but it's also a weakness. I'm a passionate United and Fergie fan (we all are) but sometimes I'd love to confront him and ask him "What are you thinking...Will you just sign a couple of top class midfielders and stop looking at trick-a-the-loop wingers that we don't need?!".

Our midfield problems genuinely annoy / upset me and I'm guessing that I'm not alone.

J

I wouldn't class Clev or Ando as world class. I was just pairing with what we have.

I wonder how Busquets would work behind Kagawa with Rooney and Welbeck up front?

Jame Gumb

Mars Bar wrote: »

I wonder how Busquets would work behind Kagawa with Rooney and Welbeck up front?

Would we get overrun in midfield though?

I suspect that Kagawa might play off Rooney against the better sides with Chicharito or Wellbeck coming in against the mid-table sides / cannon fodder.

Busquets would be a super signing...exactly the type of player that's needed.

Honestly, if we were to sign Fellaini and Modric, I'd start going to mass again and buy shares in the IPO...I would be one happy bunny.

Copper_pipe

Sir alex ferguson AND david gill are both in london, flew in from manchester this morning

Where are the brazil team located at the moment?

Jame Gumb

Copper_pipe wrote: »

Sir alex ferguson AND david gill are both in london, flew in from manchester this morning

Where are the brazil team located at the moment?

Last gasp effort to collar Andy Carroll outside Upton Park?

daveyboy_1ie

Got to love agents. Never ones to see any oppurtunities for free publicity.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/van-persie-signed-juventus-claims-italian-agent-104401499.html

---

Van Persie has 'signed' for Juventus, claims Italian agent
Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has already signed a contract with Juventus, according to a bizarre claim by FIFA agent Fabio Parisi, who is based in Milan and represents the Nigerian defender Tayo Taiwo.

Parisi is of a mind that the Italian champions have agreed a deal with the Dutch forward "for some time" despite his contract with Arsenal not due to expire until next summer.
Juventus, Manchester United and Manchester City have been heavily linked with a move for the 28-year-old Euro 2012 forward.
Amid reports that Juventus will try to sign City forward Edin Dzeko if they fail to land Van Persie, Parisi had this to say to an Italian television station.
“I think Juventus have had a signed contract with Van Persie for some time locked away in a notary’s desk.
“It is just my opinion, but I think there’s an eight out of 10 chance the Dutchman will join the Bianconeri.
“Juventus want to win and he is considered the ideal addition to achieve that. I don’t think Edin Dzeko is the right player for the Bianconeri.”

Schism

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Last gasp effort to collar Andy Carroll outside Upton Park?

A man can dream... a man can dream.

Copper_pipe

daveyboy_1ie wrote: »

Got to love agents. Never ones to see any oppurtunities of free publicity.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/van-persie-signed-juventus-claims-italian-agent-104401499.html

---

Van Persie has 'signed' for Juventus, claims Italian agent
Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has already signed a contract with Juventus, according to a bizarre claim by FIFA agent Fabio Parisi, who is based in Milan and represents the Nigerian defender Tayo Taiwo.

Parisi is of a mind that the Italian champions have agreed a deal with the Dutch forward "for some time" despite his contract with Arsenal not due to expire until next summer.
Juventus, Manchester United and Manchester City have been heavily linked with a move for the 28-year-old Euro 2012 forward.
Amid reports that Juventus will try to sign City forward Edin Dzeko if they fail to land Van Persie, Parisi had this to say to an Italian television station.
“I think Juventus have had a signed contract with Van Persie for some time locked away in a notary’s desk.
“It is just my opinion, but I think there’s an eight out of 10 chance the Dutchman will join the Bianconeri.
“Juventus want to win and he is considered the ideal addition to achieve that. I don’t think Edin Dzeko is the right player for the Bianconeri.”

Just saw that on my facebook timeline :pac: Load of bull

Quandary

Dembele wouldn't be a bad addition to the midfield. Just turned 25, he's athletic, has pace and is not too bad on the ball.

Also able to play on the wing if all of our 15 wingers get injured :pac:. Fergie loves a winger, It might be a goer!

Mars Bar

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Would we get overrun in midfield though?

I suspect that Kagawa might play off Rooney against the better sides with Chicharito or Wellbeck coming in against the mid-table sides / cannon fodder.

Busquets would be a super signing...exactly the type of player that's needed.

Honestly, if we were to sign Fellaini and Modric, I'd start going to mass again and buy shares in the IPO...I would be one happy bunny.

Aye, I'm just thinking out loud. Busquets would have to be really disciplined to let Kagawa do what he wants.

I do think Cleverley would excel if someone like Busquets beside him.

cdb

All this talk of Busquets - is it anything more than wishful thinking?

Mars Bar

cdb wrote: »

All this talk of Busquets - is it anything more than wishful thinking?

Nope, nothing more than wishful thinking!

Schism

cdb wrote: »

All this talk of Busquets - is it anything more than wishful thinking?

Nope, just ideal player stuff. He's going nowhere.

Pro. F

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Afternoon Folks...

Can anyone honestly look at those players above and claim that any are world class? Scholes obviously was but at his age it isn't fair to rely on him. In the space of a decade, we've gone from Keane and Scholes (with support from Butt) to a sort of rag tag "it'll be alright on the night" approach to midfield.

Look at City...Toure, Silva and Barry. Top class. Look at Barca or Real...top class.

He's arguably the greatest manager of all time but there's a stubbornness about Fergie that is an obvious strength but it's also a weakness. I'm a passionate United and Fergie fan (we all are) but sometimes I'd love to confront him and ask him "What are you thinking...Will you just sign a couple of top class midfielders and stop looking at trick-a-the-loop wingers that we don't need?!".

Our midfield problems genuinely annoy / upset me and I'm guessing that I'm not alone.

J

Cleverley is world class for his age (which isn't even that young) and is good enough to be starting in central midfield for United imo. People might not agree with my rating of him which is fair enough, but I think being reasonable at the very least he has shown enough to be deserving of a crack at the starting job in that creative central role.

The only issue about him for me is his injuries. But at least we have good numbers in back up for the creative CM position - Anderson, Powell, Scholes and Giggs.

Mars Bar wrote: »

I wonder how Busquets would work behind Kagawa with Rooney and Welbeck up front?

No matter what central midfielder you might play there, and Busquets is one of the best, it would still in effect mean playing Kagawa in central midfield. I don't think Kagawa works hard enough defensively to play cm. Maybe Fergie could change him and improve that area of his game, but I doubt he plans on trying.

Red Crow

Just thought I'd post a brief post on the IPO for those that may not understand.

Firstly the Glazers planned to list Manchester United in Singapore and Hong Kong. This was pulled due to a lack of demand. Now they are listing in the US and it has scaled-down the original proposal set for Hong Kong and Singapore because the US IPO windows closes next week.

There are two shares A and B. 42% of the class 'A' shares will be owned by public investors. The 'A' shares hold much less voting power (one-tenth to be exact) and the Glazers still control 98.7% of the club's voting rights meaning the public investors will control 1.3% of the voting rights.

This nicely fits in with the clubs position to switch ownership to the Cayman Islands where the financial disclosure will be extremely limited for four to five years. Also the company no longer needs a majority of independent directors.

With a once-off tax credit keeping Manchester United in profit this year which means success on the pitch is essential to this machines profitability. Another season like last year and we would be in red brackets. Which is something we cannot afford.

Giggsy11

Pro. F wrote: »

No matter what central midfielder you might play there, and Busquets is one of the best, it would still in effect mean playing Kagawa in central midfield. I don't think Kagawa works hard enough defensively to play cm. Maybe Fergie could change him and improve that area of his game, but I doubt he plans on trying.

Hopefully he won't try it. Kagawa is good as #10, making him to play as CM just defeats the point of signing him IMO.

Schism

@Eli Manning (didn't want to quote a decent sized post)

So if I'm understanding this correctly essentially the Glazers are gambling United's future profitability on CL knockout progress and or an EPL title next year?

Ties in nicely with the comments Fergie made here

http://www.soccerway.com/news/2012/July/30/fergie-promises-cl-group-qualifying/

DM_7

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Afternoon Folks...

Can anyone honestly look at those players above and claim that any are world class? Scholes obviously was but at his age it isn't fair to rely on him. In the space of a decade, we've gone from Keane and Scholes (with support from Butt) to a sort of rag tag "it'll be alright on the night" approach to midfield.

Look at City...Toure, Silva and Barry. Top class. Look at Barca or Real...top class.

He's arguably the greatest manager of all time but there's a stubbornness about Fergie that is an obvious strength but it's also a weakness. I'm a passionate United and Fergie fan (we all are) but sometimes I'd love to confront him and ask him "What are you thinking...Will you just sign a couple of top class midfielders and stop looking at trick-a-the-loop wingers that we don't need?!".

Our midfield problems genuinely annoy / upset me and I'm guessing that I'm not alone.

J

I agree that a central midfielder should be bought. In 06 and 07 Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson were brought in and we should have been set for the next 7 or 8 years. The signing of Powell is good but more would be better.

I wouldn't expect as much from individual players, here is my take on it for what its worth. I wouldn't have any major difficulties with your own thoughts.

- When it comes to Clev and Anderson I think world class expectation are bit much, perhaps even idealistic. I think we need to concentrate on getting an effective midfield. Forget world class names on paper and think effective midfield players. Cleverley certainly has a lot of potential to be that kind of player - as does Anderson.

- The three people name previously were Scholes, Keane and Butt all brought into the side young and allowed a chance to develop. We should be inclined to give the new young players a chance to prove themselves. Anderson has not developed as well as he should due to injury after injury. I think SAF likes giving young players a chance to flourish and i'm not that surprised he is going down that road again.

Cleverley has great vision and huge potential if he stays injury free I really think he is ready to make a big contribution. I had a few doubts the other night but Pro F steered me in a better direction. Since then I watched some old footage and his perfromance for GB and i'm very hopeful again.

Re the city comparison - silva is not a Central midfield player and we have already signed Kagawa, a guy who can provide similar opitions and a genuine goal threat. Barry is nothing special, he does a good job of providing a platform but far from a class above anyone United have. Yaya is fantastic so I will give you that one.

obviously the Central midfield area needs work but perhaps we could be fairer in our expectations and comparisons? Just my opinion, again no major issue with the original ideas.

Red Crow

Schism wrote: »

@Eli Manning (didn't want to quote a decent sized post)

So if I'm understanding this correctly essentially the Glazers are gambling United's future profitability on CL knockout progress and or an EPL title next year?

Ties in nicely with the comments Fergie made here

http://www.soccerway.com/news/2012/July/30/fergie-promises-cl-group-qualifying/

Well we're betting that we will continue to qualify for the latter stages of the Champions League etc. without investing too heavily in the squad. I don't think we will spend £30 Million on Lucas Moura when we know we are going to have to buy a central midfielder next season to the tune of a similar price. Buying the two would leave us making a loss which would look terrible for us.

The IPO doesn't directly effect our finances aside taking £73.3 Million off the debt. In the bigger picture we need to be winning to keep us profitable. On the football pitch I don't think the next 4-5 years will emulate the success of the previous 4-5 and by 2017 when the debt is paid then I think we may be in a position where we may have to re-finance if the Glazers wish to keep their stranglehold on the club to the tune they have now.

Also this shows no indication that the club is going to be sold if anything if everything goes to plan the Glazers may use the clubs money to buy back the Class A shares issued while still under restrictive reporting in the Cayman Islands.

DM_7

Surely the reported scale of the new shirt sponsership deal and rise in EPL TV money protect the Glazers a bit (from poor champs league performances, obviously still qualifying is a must)

champs league exit cost about 24 million compared to previous season in match day revenue and tv revenue. When other things are taken into account where income went up it cost around 20 million according to the prospectus.

the new shirt sponser almost wipes out a good chunk of that differance if reported figures are close to true.

Then the tv deal is supposed to raise at least an extra 14 million per year.

Felexicon

Jame Gumb wrote: »

Afternoon Folks...

Can anyone honestly look at those players above and claim that any are world class? Scholes obviously was but at his age it isn't fair to rely on him. In the space of a decade, we've gone from Keane and Scholes (with support from Butt) to a sort of rag tag "it'll be alright on the night" approach to midfield.

Look at City...Toure, Silva and Barry. Top class. Look at Barca or Real...top class.

He's arguably the greatest manager of all time but there's a stubbornness about Fergie that is an obvious strength but it's also a weakness. I'm a passionate United and Fergie fan (we all are) but sometimes I'd love to confront him and ask him "What are you thinking...Will you just sign a couple of top class midfielders and stop looking at trick-a-the-loop wingers that we don't need?!".

Our midfield problems genuinely annoy / upset me and I'm guessing that I'm not alone.

J

Afair point made there apart from mentioning Gareth Barry as top class.
He would not get into the current United team and I'd imagine when City have built the squad they want he will be one of the first available for transfer.
I've never rated himself of Milner

Schism

You say in 2017 when the debt is paid.

If United aren't successful on the pitch, if we go through a barren spell something similar to Arsenal isn't it more likely the club will be struggling to pay down this debt without the levels of income associated with winning trophies?

Red Crow

DM-ICE wrote: »

Surely the reported scale of the new shirt sponsership deal and rise in EPL TV money protect the Glazers a bit (from poor champs league performances, obviously still qualifying is a must)

champs league exit cost about 24 million compared to previous season in match day revenue and tv revenue. When other things are taken into account where income went up it cost around 20 million according to the prospectus.

the new shirt sponser almost wipes out a good chunk of that differance if reported figures are close to true.

Then the tv deal is supposed to raise at least an extra 14 million per year.

Indeed, but we care about the performance on the pitch and without turning a profit we won't be buy quality players and compete for trophies. Obviously, I don't think that will happen because we have a great manager but I'm concerned that not buying a central midfielder may prove to be more costly than you think.

Schism wrote: »

You say in 2017 when the debt is paid.

If United aren't successful on the pitch, if we go through a barren spell something similar to Arsenal isn't it more likely the club will be struggling to pay down this debt without the levels of income associated with winning trophies?

Yes, in this case we may re-finance. The club is grand at the moment, financially. But we could reach a situation where our success on the pitch dictates the business we do in the off-season, in a bad way!

Blatter

Schism wrote: »

You say in 2017 when the debt is paid.

If United aren't successful on the pitch, if we go through a barren spell something similar to Arsenal isn't it more likely the club will be struggling to pay down this debt without the levels of income associated with winning trophies?

This is said the time, but Real Madrid went through a barren spell between 2003 and 2007 (no trophies won) and their revenue rose steadily (shot up between 06 and 07) during that time, so the theory doesn't really hold water.

Macca07

Real Madrid have supposedly joined the race for Dembele.
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/7954718/Agent-Real-interest-in-Dembele

Now that is a strange one, unless they have given up on signing Modric.