Man City’s £100m Harry Kane bid just the start of negotiations, Man Utd move for Pau Torres – Paper Round

Word spread of Manchester City’s £100m bid for Harry Kane on Monday after Fabrizio Romano’s tweet, and Matt Law at the Telegraph is among several journalists to back these reports up. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy values Kane at £150m and so the Telegraph claim this initial offer will not be received well. Spurs are also not interested in players being part of the deal – amid reports Raheem Sterling, Aymeric Laporte or Gabriel Jesus could head in the other direction – but for City it is just the start of negotiations which will no doubt ramp up once England’s Euro 2020 campaign is over.

Paper Round’s view: A tidy £100m for a 27-year-old with a history of injury problems? That’s a lot of money, but Levy knows he can hold out for more and if City have come in with such a hefty opening bid, they too know it will take a lot more to prise him away. Despite their wealth, City don’t normally go this big, so it shows you how much they want the England captain.

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Manchester United are making progress in their attempts to sign centre-back Pau Torres, the Manchester Evening News reports. The Villarreal defender played and scored the penultimate penalty in their Europa League final shootout win over United, and now the Premier League club are hoping to sign the 24-year-old this summer. His involvement with Spain means any deal will not be finalised until after the Euros.

Paper Round’s view: If you can’t beat them, get them to join you… Nothing new here regarding the rumours of Pau Torres and United, but the MEN’s latest reports adds a little more weight to the fact they’ll push hard to sign the Spaniard this summer. With a contract until 2024, it could be intriguing to see what Villarreal demand.

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Back with Manchester City, BirminghamLive have been told Aston Villa remain unaware of transfer interest in captain Jack Grealish. According to the paper, there has been no contact from City with Villa keen to build around their star player. Having already signed Emi Buendia, Villa are keen to form a strong side capable of reaching Europe and know Grealish will be key to reaching that goal.

Paper Round’s view: Villa could well be hoping City’s pursuit of Kane comes off because it seems unlikely they’ll pay a hefty sum for two players in one window. The interest will be where City turn to striker-wise if they cannot get Kane, but Grealish to City seems like a long-shot given the circumstances. We’ll see…

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Crystal Palace have held positive talks with Lucien Favre as they look to finally replace Roy Hodgson, the Mail reports. Favre has been out of work since being sacked by Borussia Dortmund in December, and the 63-year-old is said to be leaning towards a move to Palace amid talk of Everton potentially looking at him as a managerial option too.

Paper Round’s view: One of a handful of managerial searches that have dragged on in the Premier League – you get the feeling the Euros and potentially departing managers on the international scene could be delaying some decisions – but for Favre this would be an intriguing move after it didn’t quite work out in Dortmund.