By Tim Stannard

Griezmann to make decision about making decision

Merciful Zeus, this international break is soccer is getting critical.

On Monday, Sports Burst was forced to muse over Leo Messi admitting that some people would like to see Argentina win the World Cup while others were in disagreement.

Tuesday – Neymar hopped.

Wednesday…all apologies again as the lead is Antoine Griezmann revealing to French outlet L’Equipe that he has made a decision on when he was going to make a decision on where he was going to be playing next season. And the big answer to the big question will be made before the World Cup. "I want to travel to Russia without this concern," claimed the French forward who is widely seen as having three potential offers on the metaphorical table. The first is to stay exactly where he is – Atletico Madrid. Spanish paper La Razon reports on Wednesday that Griezmann is being offered over $20 million a year to stay with the Rojiblancos.

However, a buyout clause of a very doable $122m has attracted the attentions of Barcelona, the most likely destination for the Frenchman with Philippe Coutinho dropping into the potentially vacant Andres Iniesta hole in the Catalan midfield and Griezmann taking on some attacking duties. However, Manchester United are not to be ruled out, seeing as Old Trafford was a potential destination last summer before Griezmann chose to sign a new deal with Atleti until 2022.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT to find out what advise our Bobo Vieri would give to Griezmann for his next move.

Zizou choses Lewa as Madrid’s new number nine

Time to dig out another trusted story – the tale that Bayern Munich striker, Robert Lewandowski, is the chosen one of Coach Zizou at Real Madrid to lead the line for his team next season.

To be fair, it’s a story that has been trotted out for a few years now, but Spanish paper AS is reporting on Wednesday that an agreement for a summer move is done and dusted.

The age of the Polish striker might well work in Real Madrid’s favor. Bayern Munich could get over $100 million for the player who turns 30 in August and simply poach Timo Werner from RB Leipzig. The Bundesliga outfit might also get a cut-prize deal for James Rodriguez from Madrid, with the Colombian about to complete one half of a two-year loan deal with Bayern.

Next Manchester United boss becomes available

Right. If everyone else is allowed to get in on the international break made-up stuff rumor mill then so can Sports Burst.

Manchester United will have a new manager in the summer. And it will be…Jaap Stam. The logic? Not that much, really. The Jose Mourinho situation at Old Trafford has been pretty well covered – there’s even a story that Alexis Sanchez is to be flipped and moved out this summer. This has been added to with the news that Jaap Stam has just been sacked by Reading, with the English Championship side lurking near the relegation zone after just the single win in 18.

That might not sound like a fantastic resume but Stam was a huge success at United, is not a bit of an old fossil like Mourinho and did remarkably well at Reading last season, by taking the side to the Championship play-off final. Will it happen? Probably not. Could it? Yes. And that’s good enough for Sports Burst this week.

Oprah’s tips on winning the World Cup

Well, might as well go all-in on Wednesday with the story of Oprah Winfrey giving some advice to Leo Messi on how to win the World Cup.

Continuing a media tour promoting A Wrinkle in Time, Oprah told Messi that "you have to go deep, deep inside of you to find all the strength you have inside. Messi, be a warrior." “And don’t let Higuain anywhere near the line-up,” was something the US media legend didn’t say, sadly.

In the same interview to Pronto, Reese Witherspoon, also revealed that her son is a fan – “he has all his jerseys and everything.” So, there you go.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.