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Paper Round: Chelsea to bid £60m for Bonucci

Carrie Dunn

Updated 06/10/2016 at 06:34 GMT

Antonio Conte is chasing a new centre half, and Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil want an increased pay packet from Arsenal. It's Thursday's Paper Round.

Bonucci - Germany v Italy - Euro 2016

Image credit: AFP

Chelsea to bid £60m for Bonucci

The Telegraph hit us with a glorious Technicolor shot to report that Chelsea are ready to fork out a fee of £60m for Juventus's Leonardo Bonucci. "Bonucci, the Juventus centre-back, would be Conte’s dream signing," reports the Telegraph of a move that's pencilled in for January. "[Roman] Abramovich is prepared to try to make a transfer happen by bidding more than the £50 million Paris Saint-Germain paid the club for David Luiz, which is still a world record for a defender."
Paper Round's view: He is the latest in a very long line of defenders linked with a move to Stamford Bridge in recent months, and it's no secret that Antonio Conte is looking to strengthen his back line, nor that he has a long-established working relationship with Bonucci - nor that there's an apparently endless pit of money for him to throw at players. This seems very plausible.
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Sanchez and Ozil to ask for £250k per week

Arsenal stars Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil want more money, according to the Times. £250,000 a week, to be exact. That's £70,000 a week more than they initially discussed in preliminary contract negotiations last year - and over £100,000 a week more than they're getting now.
Paper Round's view: We've been looking at the numbers and trying to compute it all, and eventually we came to the conclusion that although this sounds like huge amounts of money to the likes of us, it's next to nothing in football terms. It's a fairly hefty pay rise for both, but it'd be difficult to argue that they didn't deserve top-level financial recompense for their contributions to the team.
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Coleman says Euro 2016 opponents 'bottled it'

Chris Coleman is disgruntled that Wales's achievements at Euro 2016 have not been fully recognised - and has suggested that another team in the tournament simply "bottled it". Surprisingly, he's not referring to England - but to Austria, who they face tonight, reports the Mirror.
Paper Round's view: Austria finished bottom of their group and managed only a single draw during that stage even though they'd cruised their way through qualification. One can see Coleman's point. And for coach Marcel Koller to dismiss Wales's tournament as "lucky" - well, that's singularly churlish.
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England star breaks leg in judo session

On the back page of the Daily Mail, we learn that Wasps flanker Sam Jones broke his leg in training - while doing a spot of judo. Head coach Eddie Jones had asked Team GB judo coaches Kate Howey and JP Bell to work with the squad to improve their tackling.
Paper Round's view: Have we not learnt by now that introducing other sports into training sessions is a very bad idea? The England cricketers have given us an extensive recent history of this - remember James Anderson turning his ankle while warming down with a game of football? Or Andy Flower snapping his Achilles tendon after a spot of touch rugby? Golf, too: Rory McIlroy missed the chance to defend his Open title at St Andrews last year after rupturing a ligament during a kickabout. aElite athletes are probably best served by avoiding specialist sporting skills other than their own.
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