DuncanRG

I hate bickering about (blugh) 'ITK' credentials so I'll take your word for it!

No, but Luke Shaw will if he stays at United for a decade and wins every trophy going. That's besides the point though. Professional sportsmen at this level don't set out to win respect and adulation in the local community, they set out to win the respect and adulation of the world, by winning.

They haven't signed anyone in defence yet, but that will surely come. Liverpool's team won't change half as much as ours though. Suarez will almost certainly be the only player they lose who they'd have preferred to keep, and the only other change(s) to the XI will be in defence. Players like Lallana and Markovic will come in and play but I very much doubt they'll keep Sterling from the first XI on a regular basis.

Not necessarily!

Come on, winning trophies is what it's all about. You'll have noticed that, despite offering obscene wages from the start, Man City and PSG find it much easier to attract top players now that they're winning trophies and playing in the Champions League. We love him for it, but Matt Le Tissier's view that he'd rather have the admiration of the Southampton area than a place in the history books as a winner is quite rare, and you can see why. From the participant's perspective, professional sport is ultimately about winning.

If he's here now you'd expect an announcement tomorrow night or the following morning. I wish somebody had asked about left back at the press conference. We've more or less known Tadic and Pelle have been coming for weeks now - the rest is not so clear.

Not a chance. He's not even performed on loan in the Championship.

Keane's appointment does remind me a little of Meulensteen's for Fulham last year. I think Lambert's just bulking out his squad a little for now and will sell a couple of bigger players to pay for first teamers. I bet he's gutted that Benteke's been injured because he could easily have got £20m for him at one point.

Echo the sentiments about local Liverpool fans. I know plenty from the area and they're my favourite people to chat footy with. Online you have a degree of anonymity and, of course, a lot of kids/teens, so I'm not sure it's about being foreign. Though I suppose being attracted to a club for its success does change your outlook. As for the team's prospects next season, I wouldn't underestimate Brendan Rodgers. He's built a terrific team very quickly, has already done a lot of great business and, let's not forget, brought Suarez back from the brink of leaving and guided him to an absolutely stunning season. If he can sort the most important parts - the defence, phasing out Gerrard and now replacing Suarez - I think they'll be up there again. Add one top goalscorer to Sturridge, Markovic and Lambert and I'd say they're in business. But then this looks to be the most competitive season yet. When's the last time we had five teams with realistic title hopes at the outset? That's what we'll have if United go out and spend that wad of cash wisely.

Perfect. A tribute that suits Markus's vision and generosity without overreaching, as a stand or statue might do.

Morgan if that's what it takes to keep him here, but Fonte to me seems a more natural leader. Steve Davis is (as far as I know) the only first team player with much experience as a captain but giving it to him would depend entirely on how secure his spot in the team is. He excelled under Pochettino but Koeman might see his role differently. Lovren looked like a captain in waiting last season, but that obviously isn't happening now and was unlikely anyway as he's relatively new to the club. I think it's a real shame that we never got to see Rickie Lambert lead us for a season.

Shaw chose Manchester United over Chelsea.

Good players adapt, and Liverpool's style is similar to ours in a great many ways. The main difference is that he won't have as much freedom to roam the pitch at Liverpool.

Let's hope we're not still talking about a reunion in 40 years' time...

He's never going to express his full feelings in a press conference.

Thanks, just seen it. It does look like some kind of new contract is seen as a 'way forward'. Do we have any idea how much money he's on now? If we can get Osvaldo off the books and that's what it takes I think Lovren's well worth a bumper contract.

I'm not acting on anyone's behalf, just good practice to call people out on sexist garbage. I missed him saying there was a contract on the table. He might just mean he has a contract to honour, but I wouldn't be surprised if we offered him a big pay rise.

What's this ***** doing asking questions about Suarez!? Typical man.

Sounds like Osvaldo's binned us off. Get rid.

You guys should have seen all the men asking irrelevant questions last year!

Says he is used to rebuilding a team every season in Holland. Hope he's not expecting to do it here next summer as well... That's how press conferences work, you pig. She'll ask her questions and then it's someone else's turn to ask a few.

Confirms Pelle is near, lovely

Unlike most high performers at the World Cup we've all had the advantage of seeing Ron Vlaar play regularly for a couple of years. Even defending deep and absorbing pressure (a style which goes some way to masking his lack of pace) Villa concede a lot of goals. It looks like they're going to offer him a big wage boost to persuade him to stay - I assume we'd have to match that. He's good, and by far the least culpable in that team for their leakiness, but for the money I think we can do better.

That's embarrassing

Are we going to put a player out there? Would be nice to hear from Tadic or Fonte