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It's an interview with Sir Alex which is at the centre of all stories today. The full interview is here, in The Mail. The bits that get most attention are the thoughts on Chelsea and comments on Rooney.

The Times, predictably, go for the war of words approach, "Sir Alex Ferguson has lit the blue touchpaper four weeks before the new season by claiming that Chelsea's squad may have already peaked and that Luiz Felipe Scolari will struggle to exorcise the ghost of José Mourinho".

The Guardian go with the "Chelsea are too old" comments and then humourously compare the ages of the teams, choosing a Man Utd 11 which seems purposefully designed to match the average age of the Chelsea team they picked - the comparison in The Times seems truer:

Although the average age of the Chelsea team sent out by Avram Grant, Scolari's predecessor, in the Champions League final in Moscow in May was only marginally higher than that of the United side fielded by Ferguson - 28.45 compared to 27.45 - United have a noticeably more youthful set-up. The average age of United's recognised first-team squad is 25.43 compared with Chelsea's 27.32. In addition, Chelsea possess nine players aged 30 or over, including Deco, who joined from Barcelona last month, while United have only five players in that category.

The Independent analyse Sir Alex's comments on Rooney:

Playing Wayne Rooney as a central striker: it is a nice idea in theory, but the man himself is entitled to wonder how the hell Sir Alex Ferguson will pull it off in practice.

Manchester United's biggest signing this summer will be Dimitar Berbatov; failing that, it will be Roque Santa Cruz – and Ferguson will not buy either of them to play on the left wing. His team became Premier League champions – and champions of Europe – last season playing a variation on 4-1-4-1 and 4-5-1, and abandoning that winning formula to appease Rooney would be absurd, especially when Ferguson is pursuing Berbatov specifically to play as the lone striker.

Yes, centre-forward is where Rooney has said he wants to play and Ferguson may apologise for having "sacrificed" him on the wing. However, in an age where the five-man midfield is king, cutting in from the wing is probably where he belongs.

The Guardian has a report on our friendly last night, singling out Lee Martin for praise; while The Mail praise Carrick and finish with some petty criticism of Rio Ferdinand:

Michael Carrick made the opposition look limited with an assured display of passing from midfield while defender Jonny Evans will have benefited from the chance to play alongside Rio Ferdinand.

Not that Ferdinand set the right example throughout. Why the England player saw fit to talk his way to a yellow card after United were denied a penalty is something only he can explain.