Paper Round: New contract for Lingard, Jurgen Klopp to roll dice with Philippe Coutinho

The big transfer story from the papers on Thursday evening is The Sun reporting that Jesse Lingard has agreed a new contract with Manchester United. After a period of uncertainty in December, Lingard has signed a new four-year contract, with the option to extend for a further year, that will see him earn £95,000 a week. Lingard is set to treble his wages and he is liked by manager Jose Mourinho, according to the report.

Paper Round's view: Jesse Lingard certainly divides fans, between those who rate him, and others who don't. However no matter what your opinion on him it's obviously crucial that they get him tied down to a new contract. It means that even if they do decide to sell him then they can get a really good fee for him given his age and that he's English. With the resurgence of Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford, Lingard certainly faces a fight for his place in the team.

It will be nearly two months since Philippe Coutinho last started a league game for Liverpool (November 26) but Jurgen Klopp is ready to throw the Brazilian into his first XI for the game against Manchester United at the weekend, according to The Telegraph. Coutinho has been out for six weeks with an ankle injury and shone during his brief cameo in the last 29 minutes of Liverpool's 1-0 defeat to Southampton in the EFL Cup. Captain Jordan Henderson and defender Joel Matip are also training hard to get back into the team but the former is closer to a return than the latter.

Paper Round's view: This is a massive risk by Klopp. These sort of injuries are not to be messed around with and if Coutinho is anything less than 100% this could end up backfiring on Klopp, with a fresh injury a possibility. However, having said that he showed how good he is against Southampton and in a game of this magnitude it might just be a risk worth taking.

As he enters the final 18 months of his contract there are more doubts over the future of Jack Wilshere, with an exclusive from The Daily Star informing us that talks over a new deal still haven't begun between Wilshere and Arsenal. In public Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said he wants to keep Wilshere, who has impressed at Bournemouth on loan, however the report says that the player is now considering that he may have to leave the club, with Everton, Manchester City and Milan mentioned as possible destinations.

Paper Round's view: Paper Round has said it before and we will say it again: Jack Wilshere needs to leave Arsenal for the good of his career. He looks liberated playing away from the Emirates and if he moves somewhere where he can get 90 minutes every week then he has a great chance to get right back to the top of the league.

An exclusive report in The Mail says that want-away forward Dimitri Payet was sent to see a back specialist by West Ham after he claimed he was injured and couldn't train. However the report adds that West Ham "are sceptical about the timing of the fitness issue" and that they are "determined" to make sure they investigate it thoroughly.

Furthermore, stories from The Telegraph and The Times have said that while West Ham do not want to sell, they would be prepared to do business for a fee of £40 million.

Paper Round's view: West Ham need to do themselves a favour and just sell Payet now. Get £40 million, possibly even more for Payet whilst his star is high. He's actually been okay this season, even if his attitude stinks, and his value could sink by the end of the season. Imagine if he continues to refuse to play? Or plays but is terrible? Take the money now and look to actually reinvest it in the squad properly. Not just in bit-part players and loan moves.