Manchester United 'weigh up £71m Moussa Dembele transfer'

Manchester United will not rush into any transfer activity this January, according to the Mail on Sunday. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that he must finish in the top six to keep his job, and has signed up to use a player database service, Driblab, to help identify his future targets. The club are currently considering an offer for Lyon striker Moussa Dembele, but don’t want to pay the £71 million asking price.

Paper Round’s view: Dembele is a hugely promising forward and one who would probaby offer a better end product than Marcus Rashford, as well as giving the England striker somebody to learn from. But United need midfield reinforcements more than anything, and fans should hope Driblab can point them in the right direction.

The Sun reveals that James Maddison may be risking his England career. He was spotted in a casino while missing England duty through illness. England had sent the 22-year-old Leicester City playmaker home from duty, but the newspaper asks, “You make your own decisions in life, but what is someone as young as this doing at a gambling table anyway?”

Paper Round’s view: If there is a suggestion that Maddison has a gambling problem, then a much more sympathetic tone than the paper uses is required - there are plenty of footballers who have suffered with addiction and been too reluctant to ask for help. This kind of piece will not help. Secondly, Maddison has not seemingly done anything wrong, so this seems like a gratuitous story in the first place.

Further to United’s transfer struggles, the Mirror carries a story that suggests that the club’s former goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, is interested in returning to the club in a technical role. The Ajax chief executive does not want to be a director of football though, he would be aiming to replace Ed Woodward at Old Trafford.

Paper Round’s view: Almost every single United fan who is aware of Woodward would breathe a sigh of relief if it meant being rid of the executive vice-chairman, who has failed repeatedly away from the commercial side of things. Van der Sar was a reliable goalkeeper and comes across as a calmly intelligent man these days, so is already a step up from the current person in the role.

Following the embarrassing defeat to the Czech Republic last week, England boss Gareth Southgate is considering a tactical switch to improve his side’s defensive resilience. Southgate might return to his three-at-the-back line-up. For Monday’s game against Bulgaria he may add an extra body to the partnership of Michael Keane and Harry Maguire.

Paper Round’s view: Maguire and Keane’s lack of form does seem to be part of the problem here, so adding another man allows more protection through the middle, and also means that he does not have to drop either player, which might be the more sensitive way to handle the situation and not inflame a story that could add more pressure to the pair.