Stay Clean

At least the Phil Jones deal is finally done so we can get on with rumours and gossip about which other players we want to sign.  Though the Jones deal is officially done, there still seems to be some confusion over the actual fee.  The Telegraph report that Blackburn are calling it "a record deal":

A statement on the club’s website confirmed that the fee surpassed the £17.5 million received from Manchester City for Roque Santa Cruz in 2009, describing the Jones deal as a “potential club record”.

However, Kean revealed that when, and if, a variety of performance-related clauses are met Blackburn could stand to earn more than £20 million.“With all the bits and pieces, all the games he will play it will go above £20 million,” the Scot said. “It is a very big fee. But do not let that disguise the fact that we wanted to keep him here. We gave it a real good fight and made a fantastic offer.

While The Independent claim that

Blackburn have stepped aside to allow Phil Jones to "follow his dream" of joining Manchester United.

Although Rovers have claimed Jones' switch to Old Trafford could eventually break their transfer record, United have not gone beyond the initial £16.5million offer that triggered a buy-out clause in the teenager's contract last week.

 Onto other rumours, and the saga of where Alexis Sanchez will end up seems to be ending with the answer "Man City":

City have now upped the stakes, and their bid, however, by sending chief executive Garry Cook out to Italy to iron out a deal, and it appears to have done the trick.

Udinese's club president, Giampaolo Pozzo, said: "If Sanchez were to leave I would give City the highest percentage to sign him because English football is rich and it knows how to value young talent.

Apparently we were interested in Mesut Ozil, but that's not happening either.

The ridiculous Ronaldo to City story is put out of its misery with Ronaldo saying never ever ever:

'I'm not going to City,' Ronaldo said. 'I give you my word I'm not going. Money is not the most important thing. If it was for money I could have double what I have. If it was for money I would leave.  The most important thing is the behaviour of the people and they treat me tremendously here and I am very happy in Madrid.'

Elsewhere, quotes from Nani:

"Would I like to work under Mourinho? Yes, but I am fine at United.

"This was my best year for United and it was a surprise not to start against Barcelona, although I played 20 minutes. But that was Alex Ferguson's decision and I accept it."

An interview with Paul Scholes does the rounds, here from The Guardian, on why he's retiring, the testimonial, and his bad tackling reputation:

"I have just been unlucky," he said. "I never had red mist against anybody. The one against Zabaleta, I didn't do on purpose. It was just bad timing.

"The ball was up there and the way your leg goes it has to come down and unfortunately it came down on his leg. I would never intentionally try to hurt somebody. Nobody has ever had to go off following one of my tackles and nobody has broken their leg. I have never been nasty.