Manchester United to offer £35m for Franck Ribery, Liverpool eye Roma star and much more in today's Paper Talk
Manchester United look to sign Ribery
Bayern Munich have placed a world record transfer fee on his head but that may not stop Manchester United making a cheeky bid for French star Franck Ribery.
At the Audi Cup last night, where Bayern beat United on penalties, there were suggestions that the Red Devils were set to offer the German giants £35 million for Ribery.
And this even though Bayern have stated it would take more than the £80 million that Real Madrid paid United for Cristiano Ronaldo.
The belief is that United will wait a fortnight before making their move.
Real Madrid have made no secret of their interest in Ribery and indeed he has been quoted saying he would relish a move to the Bernabeu.
Chelsea will also be watching developments closely while Liverpool have also been linked with Ribery.
Patrice Evra: Manchester United looking good
Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra refuses to believe the Premier League champions are any weaker after losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez this summer.
While manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted replacing Ronaldo, who scored 26 goals last season, is going to be difficult, he will surely be buoyed by the performances of Antonio Valencia, Anderson and Nani during the Audi Cup over the last few days.
Valencia and Anderson both opened their accounts for the club in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Boca Juniors while Nani stood out in last night's penalty shoot-out defeat to Bayern Munich.
And Evra believes United have nothing to worry about in compensating for the loss of two key members of their team from last season.
"They are two big players, but the star of the team is the team," he said.
"Two players alone do not make a team. We have signed some good players and, like I say, Manchester United are a team and not only about two players.
"I can already see a good team coming along and we are all confident about doing well with this team as it is."
Evra believes United have made good progress since waving goodbye to Ronaldo and Tevez.
Although there has been much criticism of their tiring tour of the Far East, Evra believes it has played an important role in preparing for the upcoming season.
It has allowed Ferguson to take a look at new options in attack following the arrival of Michael Owen, who probably should have scored his fifth goal in as many games at the Allianz Arena last night.
And Evra is confident the team will be firing on all cylinders come the start of what he is predicting to be another successful season for the Red Devils.
"We worked really well in Asia and played some good games, it was a good tour," he said.
"We are moving along bit by bit in preparation for our first match of the season on August 9 against Chelsea.
"We want to at least defend the titles we won last season and try to win the Champions League."