Manchester United 'fear Paul Pogba will go AWOL'

The Sun claim that Manchester United are not sure if Paul Pogba will attend their pre-season tournaments in Australia and China, after he has said he wants to try a new challenge, and his agent Mino Raiola told the press that he is working on getting his player out of the club. There is a fear that Pogba will not come to the tour as he looks to move on from Manchester United, who do not want to sell him.

Paper Round’s view: Pogba showed as he won the World Cup with France that he can be a devastatingly effective footballer when he chooses to be. However, he has shown for three years at Manchester United that he simply does not want to be very often. If United can get their money back for him they should do so immediately, and would honestly get more out of Scott McTominay playing instead.

Arsenal have decided to focus their attention elsewhere as they can't afford the £80 million that Crystal Palace want for Wilfried Zaha, according to the Mirror. Unai Emery has just £45 million to spend in total so is instead aiming to sign Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser. The 25-year-old Scottish international has just one year left on his current deal and would cost around £20 million.

Paper Round’s view: Arsenal would do well with a winger capable of direct attacking play, and with Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, they have enough star power close to the goal. Their season’s success perhaps rests on whether or not Mesut Ozil can get back to his peak, with a limited transfer budget preventing much by way of purchases.

The Daily Mail claims that former Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez knew that he would be leaving the club in May, despite the departure being announced in late June. A meeting in May indicated that Benitez would want an increase in his salary, but the sticking point was that Mike Ashley would give up little control over recruitment as Benitez was willing to sign on for only one more year.

Paper Round’s view: On the face of it, Ashley maintaining control of transfers in the face of such short-termism from Benitez is justifiable. It stops being justifiable in the context of Ashley’s history at Newcastle, where he has consistently failed to run the club competently. Benitez is not some great footballing charlatan out to diddle the clubs he manages, and treating him as such is an indictment of Ashley alone.

Frank Lampard wants Callum Hudson-Odoi to stay at Chelsea and sign a new deal, despite wanting to join Bayern Munich in the winter. The Telegraph quotes Lampard as saying: “I am going to say I want to work with him, I want to drive him forward. I want to improve him as a player and he can show right here at Chelsea, the club he came through the academy at, that he is going to be an absolute world-class player – because I truly believe that.”

Paper Round’s view: Lampard is a clever man, and someone who can relate to a player what it means to play for Chelsea. As much as there is something synthetic about their jump from mid-table to European force, it is worth remembering that Roman Abramovich treats players fairly when they want to leave, providing they commit to Chelsea first. Petr Cech, Thibaut Courtois, Nemanja Matic and Eden Hazard are all examples of that.