Transfer Talk: United chase Schweinsteiger, Lovren longs for Liverpool and Mandzukic on the move

Today’s Transfer Talk is brought to you by The Saucer People. Thanks Millhouse!

In case you had all forgotten, THE WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY (Can we get a F**k Yeah?). As a result, the papers that had a need to fill pages in the run-up to the tournament with rumours that were speculative at best have less of a need to do so now that events in Brazil begin to take centre stage. The biggest sporting event in the world (you heard us Olympics) hasn’t completely stopped the rumour mill from cranking into action, however, and there are still a few juicy bits of gossip that may have a degree of truth to them or may be complete fabrication. You decide. As has been the case pretty much since last season ended, Manchester United are front and centre of the shop window this morning and, seeing as Thomas Muller became the latest Bayern Munich player to be on the verge of a move to Old Trafford before a last-minute change of heart, Bastian Schweinsteiger has jumped to the front of the queue. The Daily Express reckon that Louis van Gaal, who helped oversee the German’s transition from flaky winger to midfield general, will throw £20 million at the Bavarian outfit in an effort to land their man. Repeating a rumour that has long been doing the rounds, the Star say that Van Gaal will press ahead with a move for crocked fellow countryman Kevin Strootman when he recovers from injury and they add that the Red Devils have had enough of their flirting with Edinson Cavani and Cesc Fabregas and have decided to end their pursuit of both players. As if Liverpool haven’t caused Southampton enough pain this summer by luring Lambert to Anfield and lusting after Adam Lallana, the Daily Mail reckon they are now looking longingly at Lovren, Dejan Lovren, who apparently told the Saints in an e-mail at the end of last month that he wanted to leave to go to a Champions League side. Is getting dumped by e-mail even worse than getting dumped by text? Next they’ll be doing it by tagging their significant other in an open tweet with hashtags like #itsoverbaby and #welcometodumpsville. Harsh. There’s not an awful lot new to report apart from potential activity in Manchester and on Merseyside. The Mirror say that the Fabregas to Chelsea deal is as good as done, while the Guardian are hinting at a possible swap deal that would see Ramires go to Real Madrid with Luka Modric going in the other direction. We would hope and assume that Chelsea would have to fill Ramires’ pockets with large amounts of cash in order for the deal to go ahead. Arsenal don’t want Fabregas (who they don’t really need) but they do want Mario Mandzukic (who they do need) and the Mirror think that this one might be a goer, a link given more credence by recent comments by the Croatian striker hitting out at the tactics of one Pep Guardiola. That’s about all the gossip for today, we’re off to start combing the ass groove in the couch that’s going to get an awful lot of attention in the next four weeks.