Football news - Real Madrid 'ready to wait for Kylian Mbappe'

Florentino Perez wants to bring Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, but the president may have to wait, according to Spanish newspaper Marca. The paper reports that, as they did for Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard, they will wait for Mbappe’s contract to enter its last years before making a move, hoping the 20-year-old will reject any transfer offers.

Paper Round’s view: Mbappe is the most talented young player around, and there can be little surprise that he is attracting interest from Real, who will eventually need to replace Karim Benzema. Given Lionel Messi’s age, Real might find themselves facing competition from Barcelona amongst other clubs.

Manchester United want to sign Juventus forward Mario Mandzukic in the winter transfer window, according to the Mirror. However, there is a potential obstacle with his £85,000-a-week wages. Ed Woodward wants the 33-year-old striker to reduce his wage demands in order to facilitate a move.

Paper Round’s view: Every story about Woodward ends up demonstrating just how bad he is at his job. Woodward gave Marcos Rojo a contract worth around double the wages that Mandzukic is on, and Mandzukic is actually a very good player. The sooner Woodward hands his budget over to someone with some expertise, the better.

Liverpool are keeping tabs on Brighton and Hove Albion defender Ben White. The 22-year-old joined Brighton from Southampton’s academy, and is now on loan at Championship side Leeds United. It is there that Liverpool have noticed him and could offer £20 million for him, but Brighton want to keep hold of him for now.

Paper Round’s view: Obviously Brighton will always want to keep their best players, and would hope to get at least one season out of a player like White before selling him on. However, having brought him in at academy level, it would already be a remarkable amount of profit garnered for relatively little investment.

The Telegraph reports that David de Gea is now a worry for the Liverpool fixture in the Premier League on Sunday. The Manchester United goalkeeper appeared to suffer a hamstring injury for Spain as he cleared the ball, and was unable to complete the rest of the game against Sweden, and could now miss a crucial match for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Paper Round’s view: Losing De Gea would be a galling setback as it is only now that Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba are ready to return to first-team action after their own injuries. Sergio Romero is one of the best back-ups in the league, but now De Gea’s contract situation is resolved it would be hoped that he is back to his best, a potential gamewinner.