Manchester United midfielder Daley Blind believes the club have a
good chance of challenging for the Premier League title next season.
United finished fourth in Louis van Gaal's first season in charge, 17 points behind champions Chelsea and nine adrift of second-placed Manchester City, but Blind believes the club can close the gap.
"I think we're not far off. If you look at the end of this season we've done well and we've picked up a lot of points, even though the last few games were difficult, but I think we have a good chance next year," Blind said.
"If you look at the games we've played against the top teams, we've won a lot of points and a club like Manchester United will always aim to win the title. Next year, we're going to do that."
In an interview for Manchester United’s season review DVD, Blind spoke positively about the spirit within the team, adding: "In a lot of games this year, we've carried on fighting until the end and got some points because of that.
"It comes from the players and the dressing room is really great, everyone gets on really well with each other. We want to fight for each other, on and off the pitch, and that's where the spirit comes from."
Blind was brought to Old Trafford by Van Gaal having played under him at the World Cup, and he’s satisfied with their first season in the Premier League.
"It's a different league to the Dutch league. The pace of the game is much higher here but I think I've adapted well," he said.
The 25-year-old is also enjoying life under Van Gaal - who managed his father Danny at Ajax - claiming: "I've learned a lot from him and I'm very happy that he has a lot of confidence in me and that he brought me to this beautiful club."
Liverpool wouldn't interest Lacazette - Aulas
Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas has ruled out the possibility of France striker Alexandre Lacazette joining Liverpool this summer.
Liverpool are reportedly set to open contract talks with Burnley striker Danny Ings this week but are also tipped to sign another striker, with Christian Benteke linked and reports in France suggesting they were preparing a move for Lacazette.
Aulas, however, insists there is little chance of the 24-year-old moving to Anfield.
"The latest rumours are trash," the Lyon president wrote on Twitter.
"Liverpool have never called Lyon about Lacazette and without playing in the Champions League they have neither the money nor [would they be] able to interest him."
Lacazette finished the season as the top goalscorer in Ligue 1 with 27 goals and has also been linked with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain.
Villarreal are reportedly attempting to renegotiate Luciano Vietto's
contract to ward off interest from Atletico Madrid, Arsenal and
Liverpool.
Vietto is attracting attention having scored 20 goals in 48 games for Villarreal this season, but Spanish newspaper AS claims the Yellow Submarine are in talks with the 21-year-old's agent in a bid to increase a €20million (£14.5m) release clause, which Atletico, Arsenal and Liverpool are all said to be willing to meet.
Vietto was coy when asked about his future over the weekend, claiming it "could be the best thing for all" if a club matches his buy-out clause, and AS says the presence of Diego Simeone at Atletico could give them an advantage in the battle to sign the Argentina Under-20 striker.
Vietto's agent Jorge Cyterszpiler has also suggested a move away from Villarreal is likely for his client.
"We know that a lot of big clubs are watching Luciano Vietto," he said. "There is a lot of competition for him. I think he could leave Villarreal in the summer."
Costa wants to leave Chelsea - Report
Diego Costa has not settled at Chelsea and is willing to take a pay cut to rejoin Atletico Madrid this summer, according to a Spanish report.
Last Updated: 01/06/15 at 16:03
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Costa scored 20 Premier League goals in just 24 starts in his debut season at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea comfortably won the Premier League title, but the Brazilian-born striker is unhappy living in London, according to Spanish newspaper Marca.
'Although his season has been notable in a sporting sense, Diego Costa is not happy at Chelsea,' the report reads.
'His problem is his lacking of adaptation to London, to the rainy English climate, the language and the food.
'All of these have been key in moving the striker to make contact with the Atletico Madrid directors... with one objective. To return home, to the club he arrived at at 17 years old.'
Costa allegedly doubled his wages when making the £35million move to Chelsea last summer, but Marca claims he is willing to take a significant pay cut to move back to Madrid.
Chelsea, however, will not want to part company with the 26-year-old, who may be forced into submitting a transfer request if the reports are true.
Liverpool bid for Mateo Kovacic, Chelsea open talks with Radamel Falcao and Man City eye Jack Grealish.
This comes from the Liverpool Echo so we are inclined to believe it. They claim that 'Everton have opened talks with midfielder Tom Cleverley', a player who has a strong relationship with Roberto Martinez after his loan spell at Wigan when the Spaniard was manager.
The curious line in the report is that Arsenal and Southampton, as well as Aston Villa, are all interested in Cleverley. Arsene Wenger has been strongly linked to the England midfielder in the past; would/should he be interested for nothing?
MAN CITY GO FOR A SONG?
It certainly wouldn't be the worst idea. ESPN are claiming that 'Manchester City are weighing up a move for former Arsenal and West Ham midfielder Alex Song' - presumably as a replacement for the frankly rotten Fernando. Astonishingly, Song is still only 27.
On a related note, the MailOnline claim that James Milner could yet stay at City as he is 'worried by events at Liverpool'. This sentence has amused us rather more than it should.
CHELSEA WANT TWO STRIKERS
Having won the Premier League with just three strikers, the MailOnline's transfer man Simon Jones would have us believe that the Blues will replace Didier Drogba with two whole strikers, with Radamel Falcao (£25m) and Christian Benteke (£32.5m)on the wanted list. Poor Loic Remy.
The Mail also throw in this tidbit: 'Jose Mourinho is also a fan of Gonzalo Higuain at Napoli, who has been discussed by Manchester United and Atletico Madrid despite his indifferent finish to the season.'
UNITED STILL FAVOURITES FOR GUNDOGAN
'Manchester United remain the most likely destination for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, according to reports,' say the Metro, who use German newspaper Der Westen as their source.
Now we know very little German but it looks very much like Der Westen have basically had a massive pop at Gundogan for his German Cup final performance; Manchester is mentioned in passing in the seventh paragraph. Little did they know that the Metro would trumpet this as news.
FOUR IN THE WEST HAM FRAME
News from Sky Sports now, who claim that there are four names in the frame for the West Ham job. Some of them are bloody great, too.
The four they are discussing their vacant manager's job with are Frank de Boer, Unai Emery, Slaven Bilic and Marcelo Bielsa. Bilic is still the favourite with the bookmakers, but that's mainly because he is out of a job after leaving Besiktas.
Imagine if they managed to land Emery after leading Sevilla into the Champions League by winning the Europa League in consecutive seasons? Even Sam Allardyce would have to concede the obvious upgrade.
DE GEA 'IN MADRID TO COMPLETE DEAL'
Hahaha, even we have to doff our caps to the Metro for this one. We'll present to you the first few paragraphs of their story regarding David de Gea 'being in Madrid to complete a Real Madrid deal'.
'Manchester United stopper David de Gea is in the Spanish capital to reportedly complete his transfer to Real Madrid,' they begin.
'The Spaniard is hoping that the two clubs can agree a fee so that he can negotiate his move back to Spain, according to ABC.
'Of course, the keeper is from Madrid and his girlfriend lives there so he does have good reason to be there.'
If it doesn't complete by Thursday, at least we'll know why.
REAL MADRID WANT KOSCIELNY
Oh Daily Star, you really are treating us. Not to be outdone by their illustrious peers, the paper is claiming that Real Madrid could target Arsenal central defender Laurent Koscielny this summer.
They believe that Rafael Benitez has already drawn up a list of transfer targets for this summer, pending his appointment as the replacement for Carlo Ancelotti. Koscielny is apparently towards the top of that list.
They also claim that Arsene Wenger could use the Frenchman as bait to land Karim Benzema. Can't see it.
CHELSEA TO BID FOR POGBA
Ah the Daily Express, never knowingly missing out on the chance to claim the inside track on a major deal that will definitely happen. You might as well get used to them talking about Paul Pogba this summer.
'Chelsea to bid £57m for Manchester United target and Juventus star Paul Pogba,' is their headline. We're pretty sure that United aren't going to be targeting him, but fine.
Their claims come from Italian newspaper La Stampa, but we can't find any mention of that fee by them in the last four days. Surely the Express haven't used an old story and put a sexy little outfit on it to sell it again?
JUVE WANT €40M FOR VIDAL
Talking of stores that will run and bloody run reminds us of Arturo Vidal. Remember all the 'Welcome King Arturo' b**locks?
According to reports in Italy, should Arsenal bid €40m this summer, Juventus will be prepared to sell the Chilean midfielder. Well of course they bloody will, at that price.
Calciomercato claim that Vidal's agent Fernando Felicevich was at Wembley to discuss Vidal with Arsenal, but we reckon he was probably more likely to be watching Alexis Sanchez (also his client) playing. Sue us for our cynicism.
Gazzetta Dello Sport, meanhwhile, claim that Felicevich is aiming to talk to both Arsenal and Manchester United over a possible summer move for Vidal. It's just never going to happen, folks.
And that was even before Arsene Wenger said this: "Arturo Vidal? You must be from Chile! We have good midfielders, and at the moment we are not looking at Arturo Vidal."
LACAZETTE TO LIVERPOOL? PFFT
Any thoughts Liverpool may have had over signing Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette (presumable nicknamed 'The French mix tape?') can disappear right now.
That's according to Lyon's president Jean Michel Aulas, anyway. He has poured l'eau froid on rumours that Brendan Rodgers could try and bring the forward to Anfield. 'Why would he want to move?' is the reasonable question posed by Aulas.
'Your information is false,' Aulas said on them Twitters. 'Liverpool have not called and what European cup are they playing in? They have neither the means nor the interest.'
Oh dear, well that's a big burn for Liverpool. Still they're getting Danny Ings, so joke is on Lyon really.
UNITED MAKE BACCA BID
The next rumour comes from those bastions of transfer accuracy The Metro. They claim that Manchester United have made a bid for Colombia striker Carlos Bacca. The last Colombian striker worked out pretty well, anyway.
The Metro use Fichajes.net to corroborate the story. Because of course they bloody do.
'The truth is that Colombia has on the table a very interesting Manchester United club offer that is looking for a front guarantees to ensure a good amount of goals at the end of the season,' Google translate tells us. Who are we to argue?
It should be said that two paragraphs after using 'reportedly', the Metro are happily telling us that Louis van Gaal 'has demanded that completing the deal becomes a priority'. Hmmm.
COSTA UNHAPPY IN ENGLAND?
An odd one now, with Marca making strong claims that Diego Costa is unhappy with life in England and is eyeing a move back to Spain.
Costa's first season in England was a roaring success, the striker scoring 20 goals in 26 league games. However, his muscle problems continued to hamper him, particularly towards the end of the season.
Marca now claim that Costa would prefer a move back to Atleti to be reunited with Diego Simeone. Sorry, but we're going to call bulls**t on this one.
UNITED TO HIJACK SCHNEIDERLIN MOVE
It's a story to make wantaway Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin very happy indeed. The Daily Mirror report that Manchester United will try to hijack Arsenal's move for the Frenchman. Schneiderlin's ambition for Champions League football looks to be going well.
Schneiderlin is valued at around £25m, but Louis van Gaal has made no secret of his desire to find a suitable replacement/back-up for Michael Carrick in midfield. The Frenchman ticks most of the boxes.
The player himself has also not kept many secrets. "I think my decision is made," he said last week. "The Champions League is my goal and if I leave Southampton it will be for a club in the Champions League."
Fight, fight, fight.
CHELSEA IN TALKS WITH FALCAO
More news from the Daily Mirror now, who claim that Radamel Falcao is in talks with Chelsea over a move. A loan deal at Manchester United worked out dreadfully, but Jose Mourinho must think he can get an awful lot more out of the forward.
This isn't the first time that the Falcao to Chelsea rumour has surfaced. The fact that both the Colombian and Mourinho share an agent in Jorge Mendes is surely at least part of the reason for that link, and we're still unconvinced.
The Mirror's evidence for the move is that Chelsea would prefer a loan deal for a striker, thus leaving them funds to bolster their team elsewhere. They name Antoine Griezmann and Koke as the two main targets. Because if there is one problem with Chelsea's squad, it's a lack of attacking midfielders.
INGS AND MARSHALL IN AT ANFIELD
Liverpool's bid to get back into the top four continues apace with the signing of Danny Ings and David Marshall. Stop laughing at the back.
The Liverpool Echo reports that Liverpool will open talks with Ings this week, whose Burnley contract is set to expire this summer. The fee will be decided by tribunal, which you all already knew by now.
Interest from Tottenham in Ings has been well publicised, but the striker is thought to favour a move to Anfield. Presumably he thinks he might start every week.
Elsewhere, WalesOnline report rumours of a bid from Liverpool for Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall in order to put pressure on Simon Mignolet. Marshall has been repeatedly linked with a move away from the Championship club, but is now 30.
Apparently Marshall would cost in the region of £5m, and Liverpool's other goalkeeper targets have chosen to move elsewhere. Forgive us for being entirely underwhelmed.
AND THE REST
Chelsea are keen on Southampton defender Toby Alderweireld, who spent last season on loan at St Mary's from Atletico Madrid...Aston Villa are set for a fresh move for Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson, 23, as a potential replacement for Christian Benteke...Spanish side Athletic Bilbao have targeted Arsenal's 28-year-old left-back Nacho Monreal...Manchester City's Under-21s coach Patrick Vieira is set for an interview for the Newcastle United job and says: "I really know which kind of manager I want to be"...Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has stated several players at the club have no future at Villa Park...Hugo Lloris does not want to leave Tottenham this summer, according to manager Mauricio Pochettino...Aston Villa will offer Christian Benteke a club record-breaking £15m deal to sign a new contract with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester all interested in the Belgian striker.
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