Hymn for the Telephone

Main news today is on the Robin Van Persie saga.  It would seem that even Sir Alex is sick of it and, according to all the papers, personally phoned Wenger to sort it out.  From The Mirror:

Sir Alex Ferguson has made a personal plea to Arsene Wenger to sell him Robin van Persie.

Manchester United boss Ferguson has become ­frustrated by the summer-long saga which has seen him try to buy the Dutchman, who wants to move to Old Trafford.

But Fergie’s personal ­intervention may now pay off as United are set to come back in the next 48 hours with a £20million-plus bid which may finally bring a breakthrough.

Fergie has gone directly to French rival Wenger in an attempt to force the deal through before the new season kicks off on Saturday.

The Sun claim that Arsenal now just want rid, and will lower the price accordingly:

ARSENAL were last night set to cave in and strike a deal with Manchester United for Robin van Persie.

They are ready to start serious talks with United boss Alex Ferguson hoping to seal a £22million move before the weekend’s Premier League opener.

The Mail claim the opposite:

The Gunners are willing to listen to offers starting at £20million, but Wenger is desperate not to sell his talisman to a Premier League rival - hence the sky-high price quote.

United were quoted £30million during initial talks between the two Premier League heavyweights earlier in the summer and it seems Arsenal's stance has not changed despite Ferguson's private chat with Wenger.

Except it's not really the opposite: The Mail says Arsenal's stance hasn't changed since quoting £30 million, but they'll listen to offers from £20 million. So it's the same, The Mail just don't know what they're on about and are going for the scatter-gun approach so they can claim they were right whatever happens.

Other transfer rumours:  The Mirror have City chasing our target:

Manchester City are trying to snatch hot-prospect Chilean striker Angelo Henriquez away from Manchester United.

City boss Roberto Mancini sent top spy Gary Worthington to watch the 18-year-old sensation play two games for his country's Under-20 side in a tournament in Holland at the weekend.

And now the champions want to hijack the £4million deal set up between neighbours United and Universidad de Chile for their starlet

While The Daily Star link us with two players from Malaga:

MANCHESTER UNITED are set to launch a double raid on cash-strapped Malaga, according to reports.

It is thought that Sir Alex Ferguson is looking to land left-sided pair Eliseu and Nacho Monreal.

United will hope to exploit Malaga's vulnerable financial situation to tie up a cut-price deal for the duo.

The Mail report that Danny Welbeck is going to sign a new contract.

The Telegraph report on the of fielding an "experimental" midfield in the upcoming England friendly, that Cleverley and Carrick would be better than Gerrard and Lampard.  And apparently the Pope's catholic:

Events at the Euro Championship showed how pedestrian and predictable England were in contrast to the likes of the sophisticated Spanish. England lost to Italy on penalties in the quarter-finals but had struggled for two hours to get the ball off Andrea Pirlo.

In the absence of Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker for this friendly, now is the time to experiment.

A central axis of Michael Carrick, the captain Frank Lampard and the uncapped Tom Cleverley would give England greater control of the centre. Cleverley played both 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 with Team GB during the Olympics.