Football news, transfer rumours and gossip - Gareth Bale 'set to stay at Real Madrid'

The Mirror reports that Gareth Bale is planning to stay at Real Madrid next season. The 30-year-old Welsh international has a £600,000-a-week contract that runs until 2022, and Bale has attempted to work out a relationship with Zinedine Zidane despite the Frenchman attempting to sell him last summer. However Bale is not agitating for a move away from the club.

Paper Round’s view: Bale is clearly settled with his life in Spain, and was not exactly desperate to leave last summer. The crisis in Madrid might change his views, but given he is likely safe where he is, it may reinforce his desire to enjoy his professional career at the biggest club in the world while he still has the contract that lets him do so.

The Daily Mail has calculated the full cost of signing Alexis Sanchez for Manchester United. The 31-year-old Chilean Alexis Sanchez arrived in a swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but has since departed for Inter Milan on an underwhelming loan deal. United have spent £64.65 million on him so far, and Inter will not spend the £17 million to exercise an option to sign him permanently.

Paper Round’s view: Sanchez has been woeful for United so far, but his worst performances came in a side that was struggling both under Jose Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. If he can’t be shifted in the next transfer window, and with coronavirus set to upend the normal ins and outs, then perhaps he has one last impressive season in the Premeir League to come.

Barcelona are planning to sell midfielder Ivan Rakitic this summer - or in the next transfer window - regardless of the impact of coronavirus. They believe that they will be able to recoup 18 million euros for him from one of the many clubs interested, the same they spent on him to buy him from Sevilla. The 32-year-old is on his way out of the club, according to Marca.

Paper Round’s view: Rakitic has been one of the better transfers at Barcelona since their very best team started to be broken up with retirements and sales. However, at 32 it is now time for them to move on from the Croatian, and also start to prepare for life without Lionel Messi, who is allowed to leave on a free transfer in the coming months.

Premier League clubs are concerned that they have not yet been unable to negotiate a pay cut with their players. The first round of talks between Professional Footballers’ Association and the clubs did not yield any agreement, according to the Telegraph. The news comes as Bournemouth manager took a significant reduction in salary as the club started furloughing employees.

Paper Round’s view: Players will soon have to take some kind of reduction, because there simply is not the money to keep the clubs going as businesses if they are not able to match their expenditure to their income. Of course negotiations are not going to be simple, but a look to the continent shows that even the richest players are taking hefty reductions in order to protect clubs and their own futures.