Michel Platini can be FIFA president if he wants to

UEFA boss Michel Platini hasn’t confirmed that he’s running for FIFA president, but if he does, he can probably win. He came out of Monday’s extraordinary FIFA executive committee meeting with a lot of support, including that of Sepp Blatter. Reminder: Platini supported the Qatar 2022 World Cup, while Blatter did not. The pair have said they’d never run against each other for FIFA president.

Blatter, by the way, got cash thrown at him by a heckler at the meeting.

Is Platini the man to clean up corruption, reform FIFA and make the sport healthier? That he has so much support from the FIFA establishment should be a cause for concern.

Check out the list of items Jeffrey Webb used to secure $10 million bond. (Deadspin)

Raheem Sterling scored two minutes into his first game in a Manchester City shirt. (r/soccer)

Newcastle have finally signed Aleksandar Mitrovic. (Newcastle)

In case you were worried, Pele’s out of the hospital. (BBC)

PSG have signed Benjamin Stambouli from Spurs. (PSG)

To the horror of Man United fans, Louis van Gaal announced that Matteo Darmian is a backup for Antonio Valencia. (ESPN FC)

Orlando City have traded defender Amobi Okugo to Sporting KC for midfielder Servando Carrasco. (MLS)

Elche’s relegation to the Spanish Segunda has been confirmed. (AS)

Giovanni Trappatoni said “enough of Berlusconi’s philosophy,” then said the team should sign 33-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic but not 20-year-old Alessio Romagnoli. Astonishing. (Football Italia)

Charles P. Pierce on USMNT vs. Cuba in the context of the changing relationship between the countries. (Grantland)

Swiss Rambler on Hull City’s finances. (Swiss Ramble)

Greg Lea on Benito Mussolini’s relationship with calcio. (These Football Times)

The section in which nothing should be taken seriously. It’s rumor season, so this section will be expanded, and as the summer rolls on, it will probably be bigger than the actual news section.

Atletico Madrid are getting Felipe Luis back and offloading Guilherme Siqueira. (AS)

AC Milan are trying for Axel Witsel. (Football Italia)

Liverpool want Marco Reus, but Real Madrid are favorites. (Echo)

Chelsea are going to keep bidding for John Stones. (Mail)

And they want Baba Rahman to replace Luis. (Standard)

Manchester United want goalkeeper Sergio Romero. (Manchester Evening News)

Rickie Lambert has multiple possible suitors. (Mirror)

Copa Lib: Guarani vs. River Plate (8 p.m.) - River have a 2-0 lead.

ICC: 3 matches (from 8:30 p.m.) - All the friendlies you can handle.