Football news - Kylian Mbappe 'could join Real Madrid'

Paris Saint-Germain are ready to ward off interest from Real Madrid in Kylian Mbappe. The Spanish side are desperate to sign the 20-year-old striker but the French champions want to extend his deal by three years until 2025. He is also in line for a hefty salary bump, with the Spanish newspaper Marca suggesting he will be offered 25 million euros per season.

Paper Round’s view: There is not a club in the world who would not want Mbappe. At 20, he has about a decade left in which to improve even further, and if he gets close to the end of his contract then most big European clubs will be in contact to try to unsettle him and persuade him to end his time in France. At least a new contract will give PSG the chance to hold onto him a little longer.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been told his position is safe by the club’s hierarchy, according to the Mirror. The paper reports that United are keen to back him in the transfer window despite Mauricio Pochettino’s availability. There is also a chance the club will move for Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez and RB Salzburg’s Erling Haaland, though there is a better chance they will be bought at the end of the season.

Paper Round’s view: United’s paper-thin squad has left them vulnerable across the pitch whenever one of their first-choice players gets an injury. Adding both Niguez and Haaland would be ideal but United will likely have to wait until the summer and there needs to be reinforcement for the second half of the season or the club once again risks losing any momentum it has picked up from its recent victories.

The Daily Mail reports that the Premier League is ready to introduce concussion substitutes for next season. There are two separate systems up for consideration by a working party of doctors and experts. Under the first model, a player suspected of concussion would be immediately substituted, but the change would not count towards the total of three allowed per team whereas the second version would see players taken to the dressing room for a 10-minute assessment with the possibility of a return, a la rugby's HIA protocol.

Paper Round’s view: Repeated instances of concussion, especially if they are not properly treated, can be threatening to the short and long-term safety of anyone. If that is compounded by the stresses of heading a ball across a career, then it is a sensible step to allow players to be treated sufficiently and carefully should they be suspected of concussion during a game.

Everton’s owner Farhad Moshiri is keen on a move for Portuguese manager Vitor Pereira, who currently earns £23 million a season coaching at SIPG. There is a diminishing chance that David Moyes will be given a romantic return, but Unai Emery is under consideration along with Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Paper Round’s view: Bringing in a new manager quickly will allow them to bed in before the transfer window. But Ancelotti, Moyes, Pereira and Emery all have their own, distinct styles and approaches to football, which suggests that Everton still do not have an identifiable long-term plan to let a manager work well with Marcel Brands. The club needs to write off the season and come up with a strategy that they have the belief in to stick with it when times are tough.