Paper Talk: Chelsea to rival Man City for Seri; Liverpool reject striker bid

Chelsea have joined Manchester City and PSG in the race for a £35m Nice midfielder, while Liverpool are refusing to let Ben Woodburn join Sunderland on loan, according to Thursday’s papers.

 

CHELSEA JOIN RACE FOR £35M NICE MIDFIELDER

Chelsea have reportedly joined Manchester City and PSG in the race to sign Nice and Ivory Coast midfielder Jean-Michael Seri.

Blues boss Antonio Conte wants to add another midfielder to his squad, despite the arrival of Ross Barkley already this month.

Conte is said to be ready to cut his losses on Tiemoue Bakayoko, who has failed to impress since his big-money move from Monaco last summer, according to a report in The Sun.

The box-to-box midfielder was one of the main reasons why Nice qualified for the Champions League last season and the 26-year-old is said to favour a move to England rather than switching to PSG.

The Ivory Coast star has three years remaining on his current Nice contract but has a £35million release clause, which would represent a massive bargain in the current market.

Nice are desperate to hang on to Seri, who has previously been linked with Liverpool and Arsenal, but face a battle to do so, given his incredibly low exit clause.

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AND THE REST

Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has reportedly told the club he is on his way to Manchester United (Daily Express)

Liverpool are refusing to let Ben Woodburn join his former Wales manager Chris Coleman on loan at Sunderland (The Sun)

Juventus have begun negotiations for Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin (Daily Express)

Alexis Sanchez is set to become Britain’s first £500,000-a-week player after agreeing a £118.3m contract to join Manchester United (The Sun)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s agent and father Pierre-Francois have flown to London to finalise his £53m move to Arsenal (The Sun)

West Ham say Chelsea’s idea of loaning Andy Carroll is an “insult” to the £100,000-a-week striker (The Sun)

Manchester City will splash out £23.5m to complete the signing of West Brom defender Jonny Evans (The Sun)

Rafa Benitez will consider his future as Newcastle manager, but not until this summer (The Sun)

Huddersfield are set to sign Chievo’s Belgium midfielder Samuel Bastien for £3.5m (The Sun)

Andy Carroll has told West Ham he is unable to train amid interest from Chelsea – but ankle scans have indicated no problem (Daily Mirror)

Jordy Clasie hopes to make his loan move to Club Brugge permanent and says his spell at Southampton was “horrible.” (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle midfielder Henri Saivet is being lined up for a £5m move to Montpellier (Daily Mirror)

Birmingham City are in the grip of a bitter boardroom power struggle (Daily Mirror)

Watford expect to hold further talks with Leicester over £29m-rated striker Islam Slimani this weekend (Daily Star)

Manchester City will increase their efforts to sign Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez (Daily Star)

Furious Newcastle fans have urged Mike Ashley to sell up for the good of the club (Daily Star)

Watford striker Stefano Okaka is poised to complete a move to Marseille (Daily Star)

Liverpool have rejected an offer from Sevilla to take Daniel Sturridge on loan for the remainder of the season (Daily Mail)

Swansea are monitoring AC Milan striker Andre Silva, who has struggled in Serie A since his move from Porto (Daily Mail)

Tottenham are looking to tie Christian Eriksen down to a new deal amid interest from Serie A side Juventus. The Dane has two years left on his contract (Daily Mail)

Richarlison will consider his Watford future in the summer but the club has no intention of cashing in on him in January (Daily Mail)

Jon Flanagan’s Liverpool future is under serious threat after he was sentenced to a 12-month community order on Wednesday (Daily Mail)

Manchester United have begun talks with David de Gea over a new long-term contract to ward off interest from Real Madrid (Daily Telegraph)

Daniel Sturridge is attracting interest from Sevilla and Inter Milan (Daily Telegraph)

West Ham are prepared to sell striker Andy Carroll to Chelsea but would want Michy Batshuayi on loan as part of any deal (Daily Telegraph)

Liverpool fear they have lost out to Bayern Munich in the race to sign Schalke’s Germany midfielder Leon Goretzka (Liverpool Echo)

Bayern Munich could receive interest from Everton with regards to their 24-year-old Spanish left-back Juan Bernat (Liverpool Echo)