Paper Round: Antonio Conte set to spend £140m to boost Chelsea's title bid

Antonio Conte hears the ticking of the transfer window clock, and is keen to spend some money as soon as he can. He wants to spend around £140m, to be exact, and he’s going to start with £50m on Kalidou Koulibaly and follow it up with £75m for Romelu Lukaku, according to the Sunday Express.

Paper Round’s view: This seems likely – Chelsea have been linked with both players repeatedly over the summer and Conte is going to need to pay a premium to prise either away before the closure of the transfer window.

Pep Guardiola showed he meant business by dropping Joe Hart and replacing him with Willy Caballero for Manchester City’s first match of the season. Now Sam Allardyce is ready to rid himself of the goalkeeper too – although he hasn’t identified who his new first choice would be, according to the Daily Star.

Paper Round’s view: This is a non-specific non-story. Obviously the England manager wouldn’t be keen to pick a goalkeeper not getting regular first-team football for his club, and it’s telling that no prospective replacement is named. Guardiola, meanwhile, is still chasing Barcelona keeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Memphis Depay does have a future at Manchester United, says Jose Mourinho – according to the Star. There had been questions asked about whether he would be on the move, but the new manager has insisted, “I believe in him.”

Paper Round’s view: On the one hand, if Mourinho really didn’t want him at Old Trafford, we’ve already seen that he has ways to not-so-gently encourage a player out of the door. On the other hand, professions of confidence are simple – backing that up with action is an entirely different matter. Memphis shouldn’t necessarily take any reassurance from Mourinho’s words one way or the other, perhaps.

England’s Stuart Broad has been fined for comments he made to a journalist on Twitter, report the Observer. Broad was scornful about the decision to dismiss team-mate Alex Hales on day one of the final Test at the Oval, replying to the journalist and saying: “Replays were unclear? You don’t believe that, do you?” He was charged with dissent and was docked 20 per cent of his match fee.

Paper Round’s view: It’s all very well trying to discourage dissent – but increasing a sanction for comments on social media on the basis that it’s “in public” is ridiculous. That’s particularly the case here – Hales himself disputed the decision by marching into the umpire’s office to discuss it, and only received a 15 per cent fine.