Escape From Babylon

After all the excitement of there actually being some news yesterday, today it's back to business as usual, with the usual transfer "gossip" on offer.  

Today, out of the blue it's Johnny Evans on his way - to Wolves:

The Northern Ireland international defender, 23, has been on the Wolves boss' radar for a while.

And McCarthy could now be tempted to make a bid after failing to lure Birmingham's Roger Johnson and Matt Mills from Reading.

Evans is 12 months into a four-year deal and may slip down the Old Trafford pecking order after the arrival of Phil Jones from Blackburn for £16.5million.

But McCarthy could end up settling for a loan deal for Evans.

 The Daily Star spin the story 180° and make it Evans wanting to go, the headline - "Evans finds the way out", and Wolves are his "escape route" - the speculation being that because we've signed Phil Jones, Evans will want to go.  No sources, quotes, nothing but imagination.

Another example of two different approaches to the same story - Nani is on the verge of leaving in The Sun, but an integral part of our plans in The Independent. The Sun he's heading for "crunch talks" when he returns and demanding reassurance.  In The Independent:

However, it is understood United will not allow what they regard as key men to leave. There will be casualties, and it is hard to see Sunderland targets Darron Gibson and Wes Brown remaining beyond the end of August.

When his squad returns to training at the start of next month, though, Ferguson will be assuring Nani of his position in the Scot's plans for the future, and trying to convince his players they can meet the challenge Barcelona set with their devastating Wembley performance.

Mundane though it might be, I think I'll believe The Independent.

Much as I think Ashley Young is a good player and a good buy, Nigel Reo-Coker goes a little overboard in his praise, comparing him to Christiano Ronaldo:

“People have said United are lacking a bit of flair and creativity, since Ronaldo left.

“I think that is something he will definitely add to Manchester United.

“He has great vision and I am sure he will create a lot of goals for them, as well as scoring himself.

“I don’t think you can say Ashley will replace Ronaldo, as Ashley is going to be Ashley Young.

“But they are similar players in certain aspects.

“Ashley can create and score and can also contribute to the defensive side of the game.

“But I believe he has been taken there more for his creative aspects to bring in that extra bit of flair.”

My problem here is, firstly, it's the disingenuous, "I'm not saying he's like Ronaldo, of course, but he's like Ronaldo..." The second problem is, if he's not Ronaldo why is he specifically cited as adding "flair and creativity" to our side, that we've apparently been lacking, when Nani or Valencia, for instance, are not exactly lacking creativity and flair.  Rooney?  Berba?

The Daily Star headline a story where Park Ji-Sung says "I just want to stay at Manchester United" with "Juventus target Park."

And that's it.