Football news, transfer rumours and gossip - Real Madrid target Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland

Real Madrid continue to target Erling Haaland despite the likely contract extension to be handed to Karim Benzema in the coming months. The Daily Mail reports only coronavirus stopped the extension from being confirmed, and that the Borussia Dortmund forward will arrive to provide competition for the French striker. The 32-year-old forward may also be joined by Kylian Mbappe in 2021.

Paper Round’s view: It is not made clear why Borussia Dortmund would be prepared to let Haaland go after less than a year at the German club, but with Mino Raiola involved there is every chance that he will be on the move regularly to earn plenty of commissions for the agent. Mbappe as well would give Real the pace they have lacked since Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo lost their youth.

Brighton and Hove Albion are planning for life without fans, according to the Mirror. Chief executive Paul Barber said: “We’ve started to give some thought internally about whether we could dress the stadium, could we make the stadium look better than just blue empty seats in our case. I’d rather see the blue seats covered, we could put up a great message to say thanks to the NHS and we can use the space we’ve got to use it for good purposes without a doubt. Could we look at noise being brought into the stadium in some way but is that really what the fans at home would want. "Is that right? Is it what the broadcasters would want?

Paper Round’s view: Football is an echo-filled and desolate game without the crowd there to lend some atmosphere to the proceedings, so it might be necessary to introduce something to the game if fans are kept away from the stadium. Added fan noise would have its own odd effects, but might make the game easier for players in the ground as well as television viewers.

Manchester United and Atletico Madrid are both interested in Watford youngster Pervis Estupinan, reports the Sun newspaper. The 22-year-old Ecuadorian left-back is on a two-year loan to Osasuna, and has impressed already in his time in Spain. United and Atletico are just two of the sides interested, but there is also interest from a host of Italian clubs.

Paper Round’s view: Despite the two-year long loan for Estupinan, the right offer could conceivably allow for the defender to leave his deal early to move to a bigger club. United may need a new left-back in the near future because Brandon Williams is inexperienced, and Luke Shaw has rarely impressed in his time at Old Trafford, and could be on his way.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia is a key figure at Stamford Bridge, and the Telegraph believes she is aiming to negotiate a huge pay cut with the first team squad due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is plenty to be discussed, as while the club want players to give up 30 percent of their wages, the players would prefer to concede around 10 percent.

Paper Round’s view: With the country perhaps entering just one more month of the most restrictive aspects of the current lockdown, players will start to think that if they can hold on just a little longer then financial pressures will begin to ease. It is striking that European clubs were well ahead of their Premier League rivals over the matter, given the huge sums earned by English clubs.