Manchester United and Liverpool don’t like doing transfer business together. Not since 1964 has a player moved between the two bitter rivals, when Phil Chisnall made a £25,000 move from Old Trafford to Anfield. He made eight appearance in three years for the Reds and then moved to Southend United – a warning sign if ever there was one about the madness of making the journey down the M62.

But does it count if as a proper transfer if you let your contract run down and then move to your new club as a free agent the next day? Marouane Fellaini evidently thinks so, because he is reportedly in line to be the first man since Chisnall to swap the Red Devils for the Reds.

French paper L’Equipe claims Jurgen Klopp’s side have offered a three-year deal to the hairy Belgian, whose United contract expires in the summer.

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The last time Liverpool tried to sign a player from their arch enemies was in 2007 when Rafa Benitez swooped for Gabriel Heinze, but United blocked the move and the Argentine defender ended up becoming an Old Trafford hate figure.

Fellaini can do what he wants though, even if it means United fans booing him forever, which to be fair they already did plenty of times while he was playing for them so he is unlikely to be too fussed.

Pogba wants to leave Man Utd

Speculation continues about the departure of another Man Utd midfielder to some unpopular north-west neighbours. Spanish paper Diario Gol claims the Frenchman was indeed offered to Manchester City in January, as claimed by City boss Pep Guardiola last week, and that it was Pogba himself who wanted the move.

But City said no, so the unhappy Frenchman is now “crawling through half of Europe in search of a destination where he will feel like a footballer every weekend” (an unusually poignant Google Translate there).

This crawl has allegedly led him to Real Madrid, but sadly for Pogs the European champions have also “said no”. Real president Florentino Perez apparently regards Pogba as a “traitor” because he snubbed a move to the Bernabeu in favour of United in 2016. Bet he feels silly about doing that now.

Meanwhile, United are set to beat City in the race to sign another midfielder – Shakhtar Donetsk’s Fred.

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The Mirror says the two clubs have been “scrapping it out” for the Brazilian but Jose Mourinho has now “come in strongly” for the 25-year-old “anchorman” (alas not in the Ron Burgundy sense).

City, famously frugal with money, are unwilling to meet Shakhtar’s £50m valuation. United, on the other hand, are a bit more desperate.

Arsenal were also said to be keen on Fred and hoped his agent, Gunners legend Gilberto Silva, would do them a deal. But unsurprisingly, he wouldn’t.

Elsewhere, Juventus will move for Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey if they fail to snare Liverpool’s Emre Can (Mirror), Bayern Munich will offer new contracts to veteran wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery at the end of the season (Bild) and Everton are plotting a £25m summer move for West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell, who is admired by Toffees boss Sam Allardyce (Sun). Which is unfortunate because Big Sam is likely to be sacked within weeks.