Paul Pogba contract could cost Jack Grealish his Man Utd move - Paper Round

The Telegraph reports that Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is confident that he can tie down Paul Pogba to a new contract. United had identified Jack Grealish as a potential replacement but the club could now focus elsewhere, with a striker and a central defender the priority if the 27-year-old French midfielder is prepared to stay at the club.

Paper Round’s view: Coronavirus has affected the transfer window so severely that Pogba and United may see a convenient way forward - give him a pay rise to stay a couple of years before moving him on at a higher value in two years. That way Pogba is able to focus on the task in hand for a season or two before getting his desired move to Spain or to return to Juventus.

Real Madrid are playing a waiting game for three young stars in European football. They want Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen but accept that Chelsea may push through a deal this summer, but Spanish paper Marca claims that Kylian Mbappe and Eduardo Camavinga have neither signed new deals at their current clubs and are prepared to wait for another season.

Paper Round’s view: The paper reports that Real are focused on raising €200 million in order to secure their financial future and that has to be their priority. Luckily for the club, or due to their planning, they have a base of younger players to develop next season who might be able to give Real some breathing space before they have to spend big again.

Tottenham Hotspur Jose Mourinho expressed his anger with Eric Dier’s four-match ban, reports the Mirror, which came after he went into the home crowd pre-lockdown to come to his brother’s help. Mourinho said: “That’s simply my feeling. Powerful people – that doesn’t belong to the tribe. And they don’t have the feelings. They don’t have the know-how, and it’s very, very difficult to lead something when you don’t have a clue about the world that you are leading.”

Paper Round’s view: Mourinho is pointing out that those in charge of English football have little professional experience of the game, which is largely true. Dier might have been foolish or irresponsible to lose control of himself as he did, but he did not hurt anyone, nor were his motives wrong, so such a large ban only really serves to back Mourinho up.

The Sun reports that Chelsea could be prepared to sell N’Golo Kante or Jorginho in order to afford Kai Havertz. Bayer Leverkusen want £90 million for the 21-year-old German international, so moving on one of the pair would go some way to raising funds. Kurt Zouma, Emerson, Michy Batshuayi, Marcos Alonso, Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Kenedy could all leave too.

Paper Round’s view: Chelsea are undergoing a fundamental shift in their squad make-up and so this is the time to get things done. There are many fringe players who could be moved on, while the depth of the squad is strong enough to make sure that the focus on transfers in can be on quality rather than quantity.