Terrace Talk: Man United - Swelling with pride at French find

In my previous column a fortnight ago, on the cusp of transfer deadline day, I held up a stressed Irish Examiner sports editor with a last-minute Sunday evening insertion. “I’ve heard on the grapevine that United might be in Monaco, chasing some French player: Throw in this extra line about it, just in case, would you?”

Twelve hours later, the football world was united in hilarity as it was revealed that United were, indeed, swooping for some unknown child from the Parisian suburbs — and agreeing to shell out a ludicrous potential total of €80m to boot.

Twelve days later, no-one’s laughing — at least, not in derision, anyway. For Anthony Martial’s stunning coup de grace on Saturday will go down as one of the unforgettable highlights of 2015, no matter what else may happen this year.