Manchester United: What to Make of Sir Alex's Comments on Lucas Moura

It must be very amusing for the Scottish knight—watching the tabloids fall over themselves trying to one-up each other with the latest piece of incredible gossip.

Indeed, Sir Alex may now only turn to the back pages these days for a quick laugh, as one might turn to the cartoon.

There has certainly been no lack of reporting of the Lucas Moura transfer saga, in which we are now currently embroiled, and no shortage of fiction.

Figures ranging from £20 million to £50 million have been thrown about (yes, if you can believe it, the Daily Mail actually reported that the youngster would cost United £50 million!), whilst stories of delegations and deadlines have been given top billing.

However, for all their shortcomings (and there are many), publications like the Daily Mail and The Mirror are no fools—they know what sells.

And if it takes not only exaggerating the truth, but completely fabricating it to do so, there will be no hesitation.

They know full well that there are fanatics out there who constantly refresh web pages and trawl sites in cycles to find the latest piece of news linking their favourite club with their new favourite player.

And rest assured, Luacs Moura is the new favourite player of many a United fan around the world.  

On Monday, however, came the first piece of wholly genuine news linking the Red Devils with the Brazilian phenom.

Sir Alex Ferguson had, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that his club have an ongoing interest in the Sao Paulo attacking midfielder (via Manutd.com).

News that was hardly surprising, but reassuring nonetheless.

In the same press conference, he went on to deny a tabloid-started, virally spread rumour that a deal had already been struck.

Or at least, he seemed to.

His words, "...but until such time as we get a deal agreed we can't say he's our player," seemed to suggest that negotiations were at an advanced stage, but that he is having particular difficulty with the player's representatives.

Another clue—only on Sunday did Sir Alex speak out against soaring agent's fees and bloated salary demands.

"It’s not just the transfer fees or the salaries, it’s also the agents’ fees. It’s getting ridiculous now," were his exact words.

Now for him to choose this moment in time to have a mini-rant suggests that he is himself being frustrated, most likely by Lucas's agent.

Bear in mind that The Mirror's report stated that a deal had been struck with club, not individual.

All of this being said, there is still a lingering part of me that says, "Let it go. Just watch this one play out and wait only for the official statements."

But that's the paradox about tabloids—you don't really believe it, but you read it anyway.