Paper Round: Eric Dier to join Tottenham Hotspur's summer transfer walkout

The Sun reports on Thursday that Spurs’ woes could be set to triple as Eric Dier and Danny Rose are reportedly ready to join Kyle Walker on their way out of the North London club. Big-spending Manchester clubs are said to have turned the head of Dier, with players said to be worried for the team’s prospects after their relocation to Wembley next season. Though Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy is reportedly ready to spark a bidding war for Dier, a departure by the 23-year-old could just unsettle Dele Alli, also widely rumoured to be ready to leave.

Paper Round’s view: With Walker thought to be on the move to any number of clubs, Spurs’ defence could be left in tatters if Rose and Dier also jump ship. All three would be attractive targets for City who are in need of a defensive shake-up, and certainly either club could offer far superior salaries to Spurs. However, Spurs have felt poised for glory over the last two seasons, finishing above City and United on both occasions – would a move now be in their best interests?

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A number of Thursday’s back pages focus on the sacking of Watford manager Walter Mazzarri after just one season in charge at Vicarage Road. Having narrowly avoided relegation this season, Mazzarri suffered the same fate as predecessor Quique Sanchez Flores, and his predecessor, and the manager before that etc. With the club now looking for their ninth manager in five years, Thursday’s papers speculate as to which particular glutton for punishment might step into the breach, with freshly-relegated Hull boss Marco Silva heading up an “eclectic” list including the likes of former Russia national team coach, Leonid Slutsky.

Paper Round’s view: As much as we don’t like to see him in the Premier League mediocre team managerial lucky dip, there is another obvious candidate here, guys – Italian chap, about yea high, pretty good at getting the best out of otherwise mediocre teams. Do you see where we’re going with this? We miss Ranieri.

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Another hotly-tipped summer mover, Sunderland striker Jermaine Defoe, faces further speculation regarding his whereabouts next season. The Sun reports that Bournemouth would be prepared to offer the almost 35-year-old £115,000 per week to join them on the South Coast next season. Defoe, who is technically now a free-agent following his relegation clause with Sunderland, will no doubt leave the Black Cats for a final shot at Premier League glory (of sorts) this summer.

Paper Round’s view: Defoe may be knocking on a bit, but he’s proven there’s life in the old dog yet, scoring a very solid 15 goals for Sunderland this season. Compare that to Callum Wilson’s 6 goals for Bournemouth, level-pegging with fellow Cherries’ striker Benik Afobe, Defoe would make a great addition to the club, no doubt. But he also remains strongly-linked to former club West Ham, with Slaven Bilic having previously expressed an interest in bringing him home to East London, which we have a sneaking suspicion would seem more likely.

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The racket sponsor of snubbed Maria Sharapova has spoken out over the decision by French Open organisers not to give the Russian a wildcard entry into this year’s tournament. Sharapova does not have the requisite number of points to enter the competition after serving a lengthy ban for having failed a drugs test at the Australian Open in 2016. However, the company’s chairman and chief exec, Johan Eliasch, has backed the decision, instead blaming the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for Sharapova’s exclusion from the tournament.

Eliasch is quoted by The Times as saying: "I fully support the grand-slam tournament’s decision. I don’t think there should be wild cards for doping offenders. Yes, I am disappointed, but rules are rules."

However, he also added: "What also disappoints me is the fact that WADA has not conducted their business properly, that disappoints me more than the fact that Maria is not playing."

Paper Round’s view: It’s something of a surprise that Eliasch would back the wildcard snub, and not only because it’s not in his business interests to do so. Where Sharapova was dropped by other sponsors during her wilderness years (or 15 months, to be more precise) Head remained loyal throughout. Nonetheless his criticism of WADA is not a surprise. After the reduction of Sharapova’s ban from two years, Eliasch even went as far as to state it had been “wholly unfair” adding that she had not actively engaged in “any behaviours that could be considered cheating”.

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