Mercury is in retrograde, if I can believe an unsolicited email trying to sell me psychic services. Maybe that’s why, according to a Dutch gossip account, the Manchester United centre-back Matthijs de Ligt and his wife, the model AnneKee Molenaar, could be splitting up only a year after they got married. I’m being facetious: I don’t believe the position of a distant ball of iron and silicate in relation to other balls of stuff (yes, that’s the scientific term) is influencing anyone’s relationship, or anything else.

Neither, apparently, does De Ligt. According to this rumour, he doesn’t share Molenaar’s interest in all things woo-woo – or “spiriwiri” as they call it in Dutch. There are signs that Molenaar is woo-curious on her Instagram account, which features crystals and a book on tarot; it also suggests she is starting a new-agey-sounding business called “Annie’s Alchemia”, though there is little more than a trademark registration to show for it publicly.

Obviously, this story could be absolute nonsense. But is........

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