Paper Round: Chelsea offer up Michy Batshuayi for Thomas Lemar transfer

Arsenal look set to miss out on Monaco forward Thomas Lemar as Chelsea appear willing to do a £80million deal for the French international. The 22-year-old is a target for Antonio Conte, who wants to strengthen his squad further, and Michael Emenalo's move to Monaco could smooth the transfer. Michy Batshuayi might be offered in part-exchange or simply go on loan to Monaco for the rest of the season to help the deal go through.

Paper Round's view: With constant rumours over Willian's potential move to Manchester United not going away, and Eden Hazard a target for Real Madrid in the summer, a move for Lemar would give Chelsea the time to bed in a potential successor, and alllow Willian to leave in the winter. Lemar's pace and skill on the wings would also provide an extra goalscoring threat for Conte's side.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan looks set to depart Manchester United after just two seasons. The Armenian was criticised by Jose Mourinho in front of the rest of the squad for his defensive contributions in a post-game analysis session. Mkhitaryan started the season well after slowly playing his way into form in his debut year, and was United's best player early in his second season. However, he has drifted from the first team and been dropped from the squad following several anonymous performances.

Paper Round's view: Mkhitaryan is clearly an excellent player, but given the demands Mourinho places on his attacking players, the lack of defensive application he offered this season was always going to hurt his standing at the club. That might be tolerated while he contributes goals and assists, but his downturn in form made it obvious that a player like Jesse Lingard might end up the preferred choice

Chelsea are already planning for the exit of Antonio Conte in the summer. Conte has spoken of returning to Italy in the foreseeable future, and his team have dipped compared to their performance last season. The Daily Record reports that Ancelotti will return to London in February, where he expects to eventually replace Conte. The current Italian manager is expected to leave after a series of disagreements over transfers.

Paper Round's view: Ancelotti might have been shown up at Bayern Munich, where he was not able to revitalise an ageing squad, but he is capable enough at taking the reins of a club which is already heading in the right direction. With Conte, Chelsea have moved on from John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, and Ancelotti will be able to keep things ticking over and accept - largely - whatever the board tells him over transfers.

Crystal Palace are hoping to sign Monaco's striker Guido Carrillo in the winter transfer window as they search for goals. Christian Benteke has not scored since May, and Bakary Sako - his back up - is not a natural striker. They have turned their attention to the 26-year-old Argentine, who has a price tag of £10m, and has scored five goals in his last nine games for the principality's side.

Paper Round's view: Roy Hodgson is as capable as any manager in the bottom half of the table at organising a defence, and with Benteke struggling it is clear that they are in need of more goals. Carrillo might simply be in the middle of a hot streak, but if they can get him to continue to score for Palace, then his goals could make the difference in their attempt to stay up.