Paper Talk: Man Utd eye Juve kid; Chelsea plot world-record bid

Grigoris Kastanos: Linked with move to Manchester United

Grigoris Kastanos: Linked with move to Manchester United

Manchester United are plotting a £17m swoop for Juventus wonderkid Grigoris Kastanos, while Antonio Conte will ask Chelsea to do whatever it takes to bring Antoine Griezmann to Chelsea, according to Sunday’s newspapers.

 

MANCHESTER UNITED KEEN ON JUVENTUS WONDERKID

Manchester United are weighing up a surprise move for Juventus wonderkid Grigoris Kastanos.

Jose Mourinho sent scouts to watch the Cypriot midfielder, who has two full international caps.

Kastanos, 18, is in talks over a new contract with the Italians, who want his buy-out clause increased to £17million.

But the Sunday Express reports that price tag has not put United off the player, who scored twice for Juve against Manchester City in a 2-1 UEFA Youth League win last November.

Mourinho previously raided Massimiliano Allegri’s side for Paul Pogba over the summer.

 

CHELSEA TO GO ALL OUT FOR GRIEZMANN

Antoine Griezmann: Linked with £84m Arsenal switch

Antonio Conte has asked Chelsea’s power brokers to sanction a world-record bid for Atletico Madrid hitman Antoine Griezmann next summer, according to an exclusive in the Sunday Express.

Conte is ready to go above the £86million release clause in Griezmann’s contract to head off interest from Manchester United.

And that means splashing out more than the £89m that United paid Juventus to take Griezmann’s close pal Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford.

Griezmann, 25, who has been Atletico’s leading scorer for the last two seasons, also topped the scoring charts at Euro 2016.

Atletico were last week handed a transfer embargo from FIFA for the next two transfer windows.

Chelsea’s Diego Costa, a long-term target for Atletico, could be used to sweeten the deal but Atletico would need to successfully appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for that to even be an option.

Atletico’s ban was confirmed this week after a lengthy FIFA investigation found the club had breached rules regarding the acquisition of players under the age of 18.

Real Madrid have been given the same punishment, which was also handed down to Barcelona in the two transfer windows of 2015.

Costa was linked with a move to Atletico this summer but Conte was determined to keep the striker and has been rewarded for that trust with two goals from the Spaniard.

United’s interest in Griezmann was unearthed almost as soon as the transfer window ended, with manager Jose Mourinho keen to get working on plans for next summer.

 

 

AND THE REST

Daniel Sturridge: Striker celebrates opening goal

Antonio Conte has also ordered firebrand striker Diego Costa to tame his taunting tantrums without losing his passion (Sunday Express)

Chelsea will dump Cesc Fabregas when the transfer window opens at the start of next year (Sunday Express)

Manchester United want to trigger a one-year option on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and believe he can go into a third year at the club (various)

Arsenal are close to agreements on new contracts for Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez (Sunday Mirror)

Liverpool and Tottenham target Max Meyer – who shone as an attacking midfielder for Germany Under-23s as they won silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics – says he is happy to stay at Schalke (TalkSPORT)

Everton will try to land Watford striker Troy Deeney in January (Sunday Mirror)

Junior Hoilett is poised to return to QPR – just months after quitting the Championship club (Sunday Mirror)

Everton defender Ashley Williams has told how he helped change Subbuteo forever when, as a nine-year-old, he wrote to the football game’s makers asking why there were no black players in their England team sets representing the likes of Des Walker and his hero John Barnes (Sunday Mirror)

Chelsea’s 23-year-old striker Patrick Bamford – who is on loan at Burnley – decided against a move to Aston Villa because he wanted to keep playing in the Premier League, according to the Championship side’s owner Tony Xia (The Sun on Sunday)

Gareth Bale’s former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp believes the Welshman can challenge Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting for the Ballon d’Or World Player of the Year award if he can excel with holders Real Madrid in the Champions League this season (Sunday Mirror)

Lyon’s France striker Alexandre Lacazette, who was tipped to join Arsenal this summer, could yet move to Emirates Stadium after demanding a “reasonable” release clause in the 25-year-old’s new contract at the French club (Le 10 Sport)

Uruguay defender Martin Caceres is heading to the Premier League, with West Brom, Southampton, Sunderland and Swansea all having registered an interest in the defender, who is available on a free transfer after his contract with Juventus ran out in the summer (Sunday People)

England Under-19 defender Reece Oxford – a £10m target for both Manchester United and Manchester City this summer – will sign new deal at West Ham (Sun on Sunday)

Midfielder Jesse Lingard is on the verge of signing a new four-year contract at Manchester United (Sunday People)

Cristiano Ronaldo has lashed out at Xavi Hernandez after the former Barcelona player suggested the Real Madrid man was unlucky to be living in the same era as Lionel Messi (Mail on Sunday)

Kyle Walker has agreed a new £19.5m deal that will keep him at Spurs until 2021 (The Sun on Sunday)

There will be no super-club breakaway league for at least five years after a deal was struck between UEFA and the major clubs (Daily Star Sunday)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp knows Daniel Sturridge is unhappy with his lack of starts at Liverpool but says he has no issues with the 27-year-old England striker’s wellbeing at Anfield (Independent on Sunday)

Chelsea target Kalidou Koulibaly is set to sign a new deal at Napoli with a £76m release clause. The Senegal defender, 25, was wanted by Blues manager Antonio Conte this summer, but the Italian side reportedly turned down a £42m bid (Sunday Express)

Leeds United defender Pontus Jansson, 25, – who made his league debut on Saturday after joining on a season-long loan from Torino – has said he will get a permanent deal with the club if he makes 20 appearances this season (BBC Radio Leeds)

Manchester City are to press ahead with plans to extend Etihad Stadium next summer to a capacity of 61,000 – making it the second-largest club stadium in Britain (The Sun on Sunday)

Swansea’s Iceland midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, 27, says he could have moved to Everton in the summer – but he was happy to stay at the Liberty Stadium (Liverpool Echo)

Nottingham Forest are in talks with an American consortium over a potential £40m takeover, after ending negotiations with controversial Greek tycoon Evangelos Marinakis (Sunday Telegraph)