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Paper Round: Manchester City to break transfer record for Kylian Mbappe

Alexander Netherton

Updated 23/04/2017 at 07:42 GMT

Manchester City want Kylian Mbappe and will battle United for Benjamin Mendy. Zlatan's career could be over, as could Ilie Nastase's. It's Sunday's Paper Round.

Kylian Mbappe

Image credit: Getty Images

Manchester City to swoop for £90m Mbappe

Manchester City are planning to break the world transfer record in order to beat Real Madrid to the signature of Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe. The striker has impressed everyone with his goalscoring prowess despite still being a teenager. Pep Guardiola wants to sign the 18-year-old and will have talks with Sergio Aguero at the end of the season to decide his future.
Paper Round's view: Mbappe clearly has great talent and promise, and if clubs can afford him then it seems like a sensible use of the cash. However, Real Madrid have plenty of senior attackers to support Mbappe should he make the move. Things are different at City, given they may just have Kelechi Iheanacho and Gabriel Jesus, who are both relatively inexperienced, to join him in the squad.
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United battle for Monaco's Mendy

Benjamin Mendy, Monaco's impressive left-back, is a target for both Manchester United and Manchester City. Currently with a £30m release clause, Monaco will attempt to increase that with a new contract. City are favourites between the two clubs to as Mendy wishes to remain in the Champions League, and only City seem likely to be able to offer that next season.
Paper Round's view: Mendy has only recently broken into the French national side, and with the 2018 World Cup fast approaching, it would be sensible for him to make sure he is playing at the highest level of football in order to establish himself as the first choice. United have Luke Shaw, who is finally starting to apply himself to Mourinho's satisfaction, while City need an upgrade on Gael Clichy.
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Zlatan's career could be at an end after injury

Manchester United are concerned that Zlatan Ibrahimovic may never play professional football again. Ibrahimovic's ruptured ligaments mean that it would be early 2018 before he is able to train properly again, but the worry is that his age means that recovering to play at such a high level again would be unprecedented. United are looking at alternatives, such as Mbappe, Romelu Lukaku, and Antoine Griezmann in order to strengthen their forward line.
Paper Round's view: The concerns are clearly reasonable, given ligament damage has finished younger players' careers. Radamel Falcao at Monaco needed almost two years to recover, struggling at Manchester United and Chelsea before getting back to competence. If there is any player who could return, it would be Ibrahimovic, who is remarkably fit, but that doesn't make it likely.
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Nastase doesn't back down after string of controversies

Ilie Nastase has defended himself over a comment on the colour of Serena William's baby, calling British tennis players, 'f****** b******,' and insulting a woman journalist as 'stupid'. He is under investigation by the ITF, and was ejected from the court when Jo Konta was playing in her Fed Cup rubber in Romania after moving her to tears.
Paper Round's view: There's not really very much complicated about this story. At least one of the incidents would justify sacking him, and taken together they should finish both his professional career in tennis as well as in the media. It is hard to see how he can remain in place.
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