Paper Round: Manchester United players want Paul Pogba gone

The Sun leads with a story that suggests that Manchester United players have had enough of their midfielder Paul Pogba. The paper reports that the player is not unpopular with the squad, but they believe that his presence will hold back their preparations for next season. Rather than see another season go to waste they would rather he leave so that United can raise funds and rebuild with pre-season looming.

Paper Round’s view: Ed Woodward is in charge of United’s transfers, not the players, which means that they can forget about having any constructive influence on the playing side of things. Instead, Woodward will try to keep hold of Pogba because he is a marketable asset, not working out that having a successful team is a much more profitable enterprise when it comes to attracting sponsors.

In stark contrast to the anti-success operation going on at Old Trafford, crosstown rivals Manchester City are plotting to improve on a squad that won the domestic treble. The Mirror claims that City believe that they do not need to go over the top on spending in the transfer window, but can tweak a few positions. Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire have been identified as options for central defence, and Rodri will join from Atletico Madrid.

Paper Round’s view: Manchester City may be funded from an unsavoury source, but they do not squander the money, they use it to establish themselves at the top of the game. By spending so much money in the early years of Guardiola’s tenure, they are now in a position where they can spend less per year but still bring in the highest quality players to be developed for the future.

Rafael Benitez looks set to leave Newcastle United, according to the Mail on Sunday. He has been in negotiations with Mike Ashley to agree a way forward on transfers, but little progress has been made, meaning his contract is likely to expire at the end of June. Benitez would prefer to stay in England and be close to his family, rather than take up the offer from Dalian Yifang in China.

Paper Round’s view: A move to China for Benitez would probably signal that his career proper is over, and that he would fail to make an impression on European football again. Given his career, it would be a surprise if he needed the money, so it makes more sense that he will choose to stay close to his family and be ready in case a job comes up during the upcoming season.

Arsenal are refusing to let Laurent Koscielny leave the club for nothing amid interest from other clubs in Europe. The 33-year-old central defender is attracting interest from Lyon, AC Milan, Rennes and Bayer Leverkusen, but he has a year left on his contract and Arsenal are not prepared to accept less than £10 million for the player. That could see Lyon turn their attention to Manchester United’s Eric Bailly, claims the Express.

Paper Round’s view: Arsenal have given Unai Emery barely any cash to continue his work at the club, so they can ill afford to let Koscielny leave for nothing when they will soon have to replace him. It would be better to keep him for one more season and then address that position next summer, rather than to simply exacerbate their weakness in the middle of defence.