Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

For today's Early Doors, see yesterday's Early Doors. Manchester United have failed to sign another transfer target, with Karim Benzema about to sign for Real Madrid. Whether United matched Real's £30 million bid is frankly academic because, as Lyon's club statement last night pointed out: "Madrid was always his preference after Lyon."And this morning, Franck Ribery has said that...More

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Sighs of relief all round at Old Trafford, then. For a minute it looked like Manchester United might not be able to field a full team next season, and would have to recruit some 13-year-old ringers from the local park. But now they have splashed £16 million on Antonio Valencia (pictured). Who cares whether he...More

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At least England U21s got their timing right. If you're going to lose 4-0 to Germany in your biggest match for 25 years, you should probably do it while Andy Murray is locked in a five-setter. Despite Sky Sports News's valiant insistence that the football is their lead story, there is only one sporting water...More

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There has been something refreshing about the lack of hysteria surrounding the summer's two international tournaments. The Confederations Cup and European U21 Championship have been played with the kind of level-headedness Early Doors feared was no longer possible. Of course every team has wanted to win, but they have played under moderate pressure and without the...More

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It might just be texting on the internet, and it is most definitely baffling to anyone born before 1990, but Twitter is huge. It played a prominent role in recent protests about the Iranian election, and it is how many people heard the news of Michael Jackson's death. Several papers lead this morning with...More

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Impotence is no laughing matter. It causes frustration, anger and confusion. It can erode self-esteem and break families apart, and men will go to enormous lengths to treat it. But don't take ED's word for it. Listen to Cesc Fabregas, who has used the term to describe Arsenal. For all their youthful vigour, it seems the...More

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If the demise of Setanta tells us anything, it is that the gap between the Big Four and the rest is even bigger than we thought. We all know about the gulf in wealth between the Premier League's haves and have-mores, but in terms of interest and support, the margin is even greater. Setanta needed 1.9 million subscribers...More

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Yesterday afternoon, a statement came through from Cristiano Ronaldo's management company Gestifute saying in no uncertain terms that all of the supposed quotes attributed to him in recent days were complete rubbish. It read: "Given the strident way that statements allegedly attributed to Cristiano Ronaldo have been printed, particularly in the English media, Gestifute reiterates what...More

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What's the matter with you people? Don't you like sport? It was a weekend of big events and huge entertainment. We had the British Grand Prix, a Lions rugby Test, the final of a brilliant cricket tournament (two, actually), a golf Major and the build-up to Wimbledon. And what was far and away the most-viewed story...More

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