Paper Talk: Manchester clubs make £39m and £60m bids

Mark Holmes
Aymeric Laporte: Manchester City to bid £39m for Athletic Bilbao defender

Aymeric Laporte: Manchester City to bid £39m for Athletic Bilbao defender

Manchester City and Manchester United are reported to be making £39million and £60million bids for Aymeric Laporte and Paul Pogba respectively.

LAPORTE NEXT IN MAN CITY SPREE

Manchester City have agreed to match the €50million (£39m) release clause in Aymeric Laporte’s Athletic Bilbao contract, reports The Guardian.

City confirmed the £20million signing of Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, but Pep Guardiola has still got a lengthy shopping list to check off.

Laporte currently has a broken leg and dislocated ankle, but City are said to be preparing a contract offer for the centre-back before they submit their offer to Bilbao.

The Guardian says City are also interested in Barcelona’s 16-year-old striker Abel Ruiz, but far more high-profile names are mentioned in the Manchester Evening News.

Guardiola wants either Toni Kroos or Paul Pogba to partner Gundogan, it is said, while Schalke winger Leroy Sane is also apparently being monitored. The newspaper adds that Guardiola also wants two full-backs and a striker, with Wilfried Bony is expected to leave.

The Daily Mirror goes further and states Guardiola told City when he took over that 10 players are needed in total and that he has been promised funds to get them over the next three transfer windows.

He could spend in excess of £250million this summer, it is claimed, and also wants another centre-half, a goalkeeper and even more midfield and forward additions in the next 12 months.

MAN UTD MAKE £60M POGBA BID

Manchester United have made a £60million bid to sign Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, according to The Sun.

The offer is said to be worth an initial £48million plus a further £12million in add-ons which could take the overall fee past the £59.7million British-record fee they paid to sign Angel Di Maria in 2014.

Juve are yet to respond to United’s approach but are ‘increasingly resigned to losing their star player’, the newspaper claims, with Pogba apparently keen for a new challenge having won four straight Serie A titles in Turin.

The France midfielder quit United for Juve in 2012 after failing to break into the first team under Sir Alex Ferguson, but the appointment of Jose Mourinho as Louis van Gaal’s replacement and the challenge of helping his former club back to greatness are said to appeal.

He has left his future in the hands of agent, Mino Raiola, who has been listening to offers for the last three months, but United are apparently hopeful of having a deal done by the time the players return for pre-season training in July.

AND THE REST

Chelsea are pursuing Liverpool striker Christian Benteke as an alternative signing should they fail to bring Romelu Lukaku back to the club this summer (The Times)

Paris Saint-Germain are willing to spend £46million to sign Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool this summer and have already sounded out his representatives (Le Sport 10)

Dani Alves’ agent is in France to speak to Paris Saint-Germain, but the full-back also has offers from Juventus, Manchester United and China after confirming he will leave Barcelona (Mundo Deportivo)

Tottenham have offered Harry Kane a new £100,000-a-week contract in a bid to ward off interest from Manchester United (Squawka)

Manchester United winger Memphis Depay is considered one of the most vulnerable players as Jose Mourinho assesses his new squad (Daily Mail)

Rangers will not be pursuing a move for Liverpool defender Kolo Toure (Daily Mail)

Besiktas have tabled a £7million offer for out-of-favour Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel (Daily Mail)

Besiktas sporting director Gokhan Keskin has confirmed the Turkish club are targeting Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina

Barcelona have stepped up their chase of Paris Saint-Germain defender Marquinhos (Daily Mail)

Leicester City have begun negotiations with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel over a new long-term contract (Daily Mail)

Bournemouth are set to raid Reading for Jake Cooper, 21, after Eddie Howe watched the defender last term (The Sun)

Emmanuel Adebayor is weighing up lucrative offers to join the mega-rich Chinese Super League (The Sun)

Win some amazing prizes, including an Xbox ONE 500gb/Fifa 16 bundle and a stash of Pot Noodles, by downloading DugoutFC‘s Euro 2016 Fantasy Football app, which will have news/team news by www.teamtalk.com in it.

Just search for Dugout FC in the App Store on Apple devices, in the marketplace on Android or in the Google Playstore and download the app to get ready for the summer showpiece.