The Premier League is home to six of the top 10 richest clubs in world football and since the start of this decade, 17 of the 21 biggest transfers have been paid by clubs from England's top flight. Yet there are just five players from the Premier League on the 30-strong men's Ballon d'Or shortlist. Why is that? Does the Premier League, for all its money and strength, lack stardust? 📝 @OliverKay 🔗 nyti.ms/4z2RDIi

It is a complicated picture, with a multitude of factors, but perhaps the flip side of the Premier League’s greatest selling point, its strength from top to bottom, is that it has become less attractive to the biggest talents in the game. It certainly doesn’t look a whole lot of fun for creative players right now. Florian Wirtz, at Liverpool, is the most obvious case, but Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden have all found it heavy going at times over the past couple of seasons. Then you look at Michael Olise, Luis Diaz and Harry Kane at Bayern Munich, at Anthony Gordon, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal at Barcelona and, in particular, at Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at Paris Saint-Germain and it looks like they are playing a different sport, one played with joy and freedom of expression. Trophies, glamour, recognition, status, sunshine (in Spain at least), the opportunity to express yourself without fearing that every game is going to be a war of attrition. It is not just that the Premier League lacks stardust by comparison. It is also that stardust often seems to vanish into thin air in the Premier League, lost amid the blood, the thunder and the driving rain. 📝 @OliverKay 🔗 nyti.ms/4z2RDIi

Since the start of the 2024-25 season, Manchester United have won just 32 Premier League games out of 84. Twelve of those wins came in a 17-game run after Michael Carrick took over last season. Those four months aside, they have been dreadful for two years. They have had two strong spells (one under Erik ten Hag in the middle period of 2022-23, one under Carrick in the second half of last season) in five years. Beyond that, under a succession of managers, there have been long periods of dysfunction, discord and disinterested performances that leave you wondering what on earth this team is meant to look like. And that is a reflection of the club’s ownership, a regime that has taken so much out of United — well over £1billion ($1.3bn) in interest payments, refinancing costs and bond buybacks to prop up the Glazer family’s ownership after their leveraged takeover 21 years ago. When fans wonder why a club with £677.6million revenue has been under pressure to bring down the wage bill, signing second-rate players and leaving gaps in their squad, it is partly because they are still paying a heavy price for years of mistakes in the transfer market and partly because the debt carries such a burden on the club’s finances. Then there is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who arrived as a minority shareholder in early 2024 and spoke breezily about how he planned to restore Manchester United to greatness with a smart, strategic approach. How’s that going, Sir Jim? If anything, his decision-making has been even worse than that of the previous Glazer-led regime, which is really saying something. 📝 @OliverKay 🔗 nyti.ms/4Bs8GVG

This is what we’re hearing about Manchester United's coaching situation. ■ Carrick to continue in immediate term ■ But club privately weighing up options ■ Howe has most compelling case for some ■ Nagelsmann spoken of, Conte interested but would want reassurances, Emery highly regarded 📝 @lauriewhitwell 🔗 nyti.ms/3WrhiMl

In 1967, Florian Albert received the Ballon d'Or trophy in the kitchen of his home in Budapest. In 2001, Michael Owen "didn't have to attend the ceremony" because the organisers from France Football magazine brought the trophy to him in Liverpool. Now in its 70th year, the Ballon d’Or has taken on a life of its own. Not only is the trophy now significantly bigger — an orb modelled on a full-size football, dipped in gold, resting on a base made of pyrite — but so is everything around it. In the words of Pascal Ferre, who oversaw the award as France Football’s editor between 2016 and 2023, “it makes people crazy.” @OliverKay charts the history and evolution of the Ballon d'Or, with help from one of the "two or three" people who knows who has won this year's award... Free to read: nyti.ms/4sf2NXM

Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle comes out of the speakers as Erik ten Hag's car stereo goes through a 1980s playlist. “In this period it was real music; now everything is computer." In the second part of @lauriewhitwell's exclusive interview, Ten Hag opens up on his time in charge of Manchester United and his career since: ■ Why a 2-2 draw with Sevilla in April 2023 was a turning point in his reign ■ How that summer’s pre-season ‘killed’ players ■ The signing of Antony and Jadon Sancho's reluctance to play on the right ■ "Amazing" Kobbie Mainoo and his "strong connection" with Alejandro Garnacho ■ Bruno Fernandes: “Sometimes he’s getting emotional, but he’s a winner" ■ How players are affected by Manchester United legends who are now pundits 🔗 nyti.ms/4zJGGLF

🔮 | @OliverKay, a guest subscriber, an algorithm and seven-year-old Wilfred are on hand to predict the latest round of Premier League fixtures. None of them think Liverpool will beat Brentford this weekend, while there is little confidence in Manchester United leaving Elland Road with much... bit.ly/4ymI6L6