Super League fallout - Glazer family ready to sell Manchester United for £4 billion - Paper Round

Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, will be willing to consider bids for the club of around £4 billion, reports the Mirror. The paper claims that figures in the city believe that the sum meets the valuation that the US family would put on the club had the European Super League plans gone ahead, and also reflect the commercial appeal of the club when it comes to securing sponsorship deals. Liverpool's owners reportedly recently turned down £3 billion for their club.

Paper Round’s view: The Glazers made a brilliant deal when they managed to get Manchester United to take on the debt that they had used to buy the club. Of course, it came at a cost and there was no need for United to have taken on so much debt for any other reason, and the interest they have paid has hampered their success for the past decade - it will probably be no different in the short term.

Norwich City are aware that Aston Villa could be in this summer for their attacking midfielder Todd Cantwell. The 23-year-old has attracted attention from Villa and could be a potential replacement should Manchester City come in for Villa’s £100m-rated captain Jack Grealish. Norwich will also consider offers for Emiliano Buendia as well as defender Max Aarons.

Paper Round’s view: Aarons is attracting attention from across Europe, and Buendia has already shown that he can handle himself in the Premier League. Cantwell, meanwhile, has the technique and self-belief that should set him up for a step up when he returns to the Premier League, either with Norwich City or another club who are willing to spend big to land the promising player.

The Telegraph reports that Daniel Ek - the co-founder and part-owner of Spotify - is serious about buying Arsenal after Stan Kroenke’s plans for the European Super League collapsed earlier this week. The paper suggests that a price of £2 billion may be sufficient to seal the deal, which means that Ek would need to form a consortium in order to pull off the takeover.

Paper Round’s view: Ek would be able to go in with other buyers in order to raise the funds for Arsenal if £2 billion really is enough, but another option would be simply to buy the club with debt, just as the Glazer family did with Manchester United. Whether they are glamorous enough or able to generate the cash to make them more than anything else than a vanity purchase, is another matter.

Manchester United and Manchester City are both in the market for experienced back-up ‘keepers, according to the Sun. Sam Johnstone, West Brom’s 28-year-old former United stopper, and Tom Heaton, Aston Villa’s 35-year-old former United stopper, are Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s two choices. Meanwhile, Watford’s 38-year-old former United stopper, Ben Foster, is Pep Guardiola’s contender.

Paper Round’s view: That’s a lot of former United stoppers. Foster showed at United that he could not handle the pressure of big games, but perhaps by now he has matured and will only need to play important games in emergencies. Heaton proved himself at Burnley as a decent goalkeeper, but Johnstone is just 28 with a year left on his contract, so may be better value.