Football news - Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti targets Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin - Paper Round

Former Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti is hoping to come back to Merseyside in order to prise away the club’s star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The 24-year-old striker has impressed over the course of the season and Ancelotti wants to bring him to Real. An offer of £50 million might be enough to secure the player given the financial problems at Everton.

Paper Round’s view: The amount of money spent in the transfer market by Everton has given them precious little to show on the pitch and in the trophy cabinet. Calvert-Lewin would be a surprising replacement for Karim Benzema, but with his rapid recent improvement he might need to move on now in order to make sure he does not waste his chance of kicking on.

The Mirror reports that Manchester United are concerned that they will lose Paul Pogba on a free transfer next summer. The 28-year-old French international has a year left on his current deal and could leave for nothing in 12 months if he does not extend his current deal. Meanwhile, United expect that they will come to an agreement to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

Paper Round’s view: If Pogba is committed to leaving for nothing then there’s little United could do about it. They would face a tough decision on taking a huge hit on the transfer fee they might demand now and be left hoping that the player is willing to move on now, rather than remain in total control of his destiny next summer.

The Telegraph gives an update on Harry Kane’s situation at Tottenham Hotspur. The 27-year-old England international has been linked with Manchester City after telling his current club that he wants to leave this summer. However, the paper claims that Daniel Levy might make any negotiations too difficult for City to enter into, because they want to avoid a huge saga.

Paper Round’s view: Kane is suffering at Euro 2020 and it’s easy to suggest that problems over his future are starting to distract him on the pitch. However, for the player the injuries are starting to stack up, and City must wonder if they have the medical technology to keep him fresh when the early warning signs over his body starting to fade are already there.

Manchester City are not prepared to make life easy for Barcelona as they target the signing of one or both of Aymeric Laporte and Bernardo Silva. Barca don’t have the cash to buy them outright, but would be prepared to offer Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Miralem Pjanic, Ousmane Dembele, Martin Braithwaite, Sergi Roberto and Clement Lenglet, but not the players City would want: Pedri, Ansu Fati and Frenkie de Jong.

Paper Round’s view: City presumably want to lose neither Laporte nor Silva, so they will be open to a transfer only if the terms are really attractive. There are so many players that Barcelona would be happy to get rid of, so with that in mind there would be few of them that Pep Guardiola would want in order to take his side to the next level after their Champions League defeat.