Quote of the day

"For the moment I am at Newcastle, you never know what happens in football ... The season is not finished as I have still two matches [for France]. After that I'm going on holiday and it can't come soon enough to clear my head of the difficult season we have just had, and I let my agents work for me. I have had no direct contact with anyone, maybe my agents are currently in the know. ... [Man Utd] are always well placed amongst the big clubs, yes for sure it could be an interesting challenge but like I said for the moment, there is nothing concrete and I am still at Newcastle."

A fresh cause for concern: Dreamboat's most recent pronouncements on French TV. As is the usual way with these things, he was asked if he would fancy a hypothetical move to Man Utd, to which he replied, "Yes, of course" as any sane individual probably would, and it gets sold as "Player is desperate for move to Man Utd". However, I don't think this can simply be dismissed as a media-created story given Dreamboat's candid comments about agents being busy at work and that very weak claim of commitment to his current club - "for the moment, there is nothing concrete and I am still at Newcastle". It suggests to me that the man earmarked for the captaincy may not even be a Toon player come the start of the new season.