Paper Round: Manchester City's £100m offer to Pep Guardiola

Manchester City make £100m Pep offer – The Sun carries the big story that Manchester City are determined to land Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola at the end of the season and have prepared a £20m per year contract in order to tempt him to England. “Etihad chiefs are ready to give him the most lucrative deal in history, worth £20m a season over five years, with the Spaniard set to quit Bayern Munich next summer,” says the report. “Guardiola insisted he has had no offers yet. But well-informed sources told SunSport last night City are convinced they will get their man.”

Paper Round’s view: The quotes this story are based on do suggest Guardiola will leave Bayern at the end of the season. “A year is a long time, three years is a lifetime at a big club,” the Catalan said. The noises coming out of Munich have been for some time that the club are at least planning for his possible departure and if he does go, City is his most likely destination given the presence of former Barcelona colleagues Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano on the club’s board. This time, two plus two probably does equal four.

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Tottenham target Sven Bender – The Daily Mirror says Spurs have set their sights on a Bundesliga start with defensive midfielder Bender of Borussia Dortmund the man in question. According to reporter John Cross: “Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino is desperate for a new holding midfielder and has so far been rebuffed in an attempt to get Everton's James McCarthy. But they are now looking at 24-year-old Bender who was left on the substitutes' bench for the club's Europa League game against Wolfsberger on Thursday night.”

Paper Round’s view: Bender would be a fine acquisition and has also been mentioned as a possible target for Arsenal in the past. Though McCarthy would be a sure thing in the Premier League, his prohibitive price tag makes any deal unlikely so Bender is a good back-up option.

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Van Gaal to make Di Maria sweat – Manchester United’s manager is not happy with the man who commanded a British record transfer fee last season. The Daily Mirror says Angel Di Maria’s conduct this summer has enraged Louis van Gaal, with the Argentina international refusing to come on tour and generally going AWOL. As his move to Paris Saint-Germain moves ever closer, the paper reports: “The two clubs were close to agreement on a fee of £43.7million, but Van Gaal feels the 27-year-old has been disrespectful to the Manchester club and himself... and has responded by ensuring there is no easy get-out to Paris. United have now put their foot down by demanding at least £45m for the player – and they also want more of the fee paid up front, which could stretch negotiations into next week.”

Paper Round’s view: Di Maria has already been fined £360,000 for failing to report for duty and United seem intent of making life harder for him as they wrangle over an extra couple of million. But that cannot disguise the fact that this has proved to be a catastrophic transfer and United will record a loss in the region of £15m.

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Villa make Lescott offer – According to the Daily Mail, Tim Sherwood is determined to sign Joleon Lescott from West Brom and bring him to rivals Aston Villa. The paper says an approach has been made with an offer of £1m on the table. Laurie Whitwell writes: “West Brom, however, are flatly rejecting any advances for one of their star performers last season.”

Paper Round’s view: As well they should. Okay, Lescott has one year left on his contract and is approaching 33, but £1m is a pittance for a defender of his experience. When James Chester is moving for £8m, that fee for Lescott seems rather small.