Football news, transfer rumours and gossip - Manchester United 'expect to sign £120m Jadon Sancho'

Manchester United are increasingly confident over signing Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho this summer, according to the Mirror. The 20-year-old England international is wanted by Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as Spanish sides Real Madrid and Barcelona, but all have been put off by the £120 million valuation except for Ed Woodward.

Paper Round’s view: Manchester United could just about qualify for the Champions League if football is not restarted this season and if Manchester City’s ban from European football is imposed, which should help them both attract and afford better players. Adding Sancho would allow United to take the strain off Marcus Rashford, who was unable to cope with the physical demands of overuse this season.

The Sun newspaper believes that Pedro is ready to quit Chelsea at the end of the season. The 32-year-old former Barcelona player told Cadena Ser: "I’m terminating my contract, but right now it’s not the most important thing, nor have I stopped to think about it. The most important thing is for everyone to show solidarity. Whatever happens regarding my future will happen but right now is not important as we don't even know when we will return to training.”

Paper Round’s view: Pedro has been mainly reliable, occasionally excellent and sometimes disappointing at Chelsea, but for £30 he has been a signing of exceptionally good value. Pedro could no doubt continue to play at the top level, so may yet have a couple more years in the Premier League or Europe before moving on to one of the high-salary retirement leagues.

The Telegraph reports that other Premier League sides are unhappy with Brighton over their decision to give free tickets to NHS workers. Both Brighton and Bournemouth signed up to donate 1,000 tickets each as a thank-you to workers who are under pressure during the Coronavirus crisis, but other sides are unhappy they acted unilaterally as they are reportedly unconvinced by the campaign.

Paper Round’s view: It would be easy to assume that Premier League clubs are just being selfish again, given the amount of capital they take away from the rest of the football pyramid. But it may just be that clubs feel under pressure to act because Brighton went public before the rest of the league could agree to the deal - now it looks like they are reluctant whatever they eventually decide to do.

The All England Club is holding an emergency meeting next week to consider the future of this year’s Wimbledon. They have already decided against holding it behind closed doors, but with the campaign due to start on June 29, it might be too difficult to get going as all tennis is currently suspended until June 7. The Telegraph reports that the whole grass season may be cancelled.

Paper Round’s view: Cancelling the whole grass season does seem a touch excessive to decide now. In China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, life is not exactly back to normal but they are enjoying more freedom than much of Europe. While it is increasingly difficult to contemplate life in London being anything like it was last month, cancelling Wimbledon is a huge decision to take.