Shut Up and Kiss Me

The main story today is our refutation of Le Havre's claims about Paul Pogba. Full text of the statement from the official website:

In response to the wholly unfounded comments widely reported in the media of Le Havre AC President, Jean-Pierre Louvel, Manchester United wishes to categorically confirm that as a matter of club policy, and in accordance with the applicable football regulations, it does not offer inducements to the parents of players that sign for the club, such as monetary payments or the purchase of houses.

Manchester United has today written to Le Havre AC to put it on notice that action will be taken if such allegations are repeated in relation to the transfer of Paul Pogba.

Manchester United is entirely satisfied that the transfer of Paul Pogba has been conducted in accordance with the regulations set down by the world governing body, FIFA. Manchester United is ready to defend any claim brought against it by Le Havre at FIFA.

It is to be noted that all contractual documentation relating to the player’s registration with the club has already been fully ratified by The Football Association and the Premier League.

A strong statement which seems to be necessary, firstly because of the constant stream of rubbish we've been seeing from Le Havre, and secondly, given that in the wake of the Chelsea judgement there seems to be a bit of a witch-hunt going on in the papers where any signing of a youth player is being flagged as dubious. Perhaps also important because, according to The Mail, we are interested in another French youth player, Regis Etari.
Other stories: David Gill, "has been elected a member of the European Club Association's 15-man board," which means:

"I'm obviously very pleased to be elected," said Gill. "The ECA has a very important role to play in the relationship with Uefa and other bodies within European and world football." ...

The ECA sends delegates to Uefa's strategy council which will propose detailed "financial fair play" rules next year. The European authority wants clubs to break even on football activities by 2012 or face being barred from its lucrative Champions League.

"We are the people who run the clubs, we understand the issues," Gill said. "All parties need to work together to come up with a set of rules and regulations that everyone buys into."

An interview Rio Ferdinand did with MUTV is quoted in a few papers, from The Mirror on our new signings:

"We've come off the pitch against Wigan the last couple of seasons talking about how good a player Valencia is," he added.

"He's quick, strong and direct, so he will suit how we play. Hopefully he can produce what he did for Wigan with us.

"I saw Obertan play for France Under-21s against England a while ago and he looked really, really good. I don’t know what the manager's idea is, but he's got real potential.

"With Michael Owen, a lot of United fans were thinking of all the injuries he's had. There are people who think about him playing for Liverpool, but you have to look at the bigger picture.

"If you win trophies, you can’t say that that is doesn’t count because you've got an ex-Liverpool player in your team.

"I'm sure he'll score goals. If you look at his strike-rate, it's one of the best in the Premier League. We're getting somebody who will score goals and that's what we need."

And from The Independent on having ballet lessons as a child:

"I didn't tell anyone for years, until I was about 15 or 16 and could handle myself properly," revealed Ferdinand, who expects to be back in United's side for this weekend's visit to Tottenham. "I used to hang around with kids who were older than me, so if I'd told them when I was 12, I'd have got mullered! I used to say I was going to drama school, but when you get to 15 or 16, you don't really care what people think. It's elegant and you have to be flexible, know the moves, the right notes and the timing."

O'Shea returns from international duty because of injury, sounds more precautionary than anything though.
Finally, nothing to do with Man United, but I found this paragraph by Kevin McCarra in The Guardian funny - he's a master of stating the bleeding obvious:

Like any international manager, Capello can count himself a prisoner of circumstance. He is confined to players with the correct birthplace or bloodline and, ultimately, his achievements may be restricted by them.

So insightful...