Paper Round: Chelsea's £100m bid for Juve pair as club confirm 'substantial offer' for Alex Sandro

Antonio Conte is reported to be closing in on a "double swoop" worth £100 million for Juventus defensive pair Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro. The Sun reports that Chelsea hope to sign deals with the two as Juventus confirmed on Thursday they had received a "substantial offer" for 26-year-old Sandro, and that they would not stop a player from leaving if they wished to do so.

Paper Round’s view: Bonucci is a long-cited Chelsea target and this is a story that seems to come around frequently, though he is at the wrong end of Conte's preferred age-range at 30. With left-back Sandro thrown into the mix, this would be a strong bid by the Blues to bolster their defensive options. Bonucci would fit into any team and could easily command starts in the current line-up, though Sandro would have some competition by way of Marcos Alonso.

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Kylian Mbappe makes the back pages again on Friday as The Mirror reports Ligue 1 runners up Paris Saint-Germain have made a world record bid of £119mi to beat Arsenal to sign the 18-year-old. A fee of that magnitude would absolutely obliterate the current transfer record of almost £90m paid by Manchester United to Juventus for Paul Pogba last year. According to the newspaper, as Arsenal’s primary transfer target, the club now needs to put their money where their mouths are if they’re to land the youngster.

Paper Round’s view: Following Thursday’s reports that Mbappe would be prepared to make the move to North London for the experience of working with Arsene 'the man who launched a thousand France international careers' Wenger, this is the rumour mill that just keeps grinding. PSG would be an attractive option to Mbappe no doubt, based in his home city. But a move to PSG would be a step down from current team, and Ligue 1 champions, Monaco - and a bizarre move by Monaco, who would be selling to their own rivals. Not to mention the fact that the Premier League is… well, it’s just better, isn’t it?

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The Independent reports that Arsenal’s attempts to keep hold of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez could have huge impacts on the club’s squad, thanks to the Premier League’s wage restriction rules which come into force this summer. According to the newspaper, salary increases of the scale that would be expected to keep hold of the pair – reportedly to £280,000 per week, each - would force the club to sell a number of other players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud and Jack Wilshere as well as many more.

Paper Round’s view: OK, so first up, the rules state that wage increases of more than £7m above that of the previous season should be paid for by external sources. So, that would mean ticketing or commercial money as well as player sales. With the club having missed out on a place in the Champions League next season, ticketing admittedly looks like a less valuable revenue stream, and let’s not even start on those dodgy collars on the new kit, if we’re talking about commercial revenue. Still, the club does have options – photo booth opportunities with Atom and Humber, perhaps? But more importantly, does anyone really expect them to stay?

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Meanwhile The Mirror reports that Sanchez remains a high priority for Manchester City, this summer, and that Pep Guardiola's side will launch a renewed bid for the Chile international off the back of his performance in the Confederations Cup. The newspaper reports that City would be prepared to part with £50m to bring Sanchez to the Etihad, despite Arsenal's protests that the 28-year-old, who scored 30 goals for them last season, is not for sale.

Paper Round's view: While we can't argue that Sanchez is a class act, we also can't help but wonder what Guardiola would actually want with him - he's not short on attacking options after all. With Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling - not to mention recent acquisition Bernardo Silva - all on his books, surely another forward should be lower down Guardiola's wish list.

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