Paper Talk: Napoli snub leaves Arsenal as frontrunners for star

Arsenal have jumped to the front of the queue to land a Bundesliga goalkeeper, while Chelsea are eyeing a shock swoop for a Gunners star, according to Friday’s papers.

 

ARSENAL JUMP TO FRONT OF QUEUE FOR BUNDESLIGA STOPPER

Arsenal have reportedly been given hope of signing Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno after Napoli dropped out of the race for his signature.

The Gunners are keen to land the stopper, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, with Napoli now turning their attention to Genoa’s Mattia Perin instead.

Napoli look certain to lose Pepe Reina on a free transfer this summer, with AC Milan the favourites to sign him, and did have initial interest in the highly-rated Leno.

But with Napoli having now switched targets, it leaves the Gunners in the clear to land the player they are eyeing as Petr Cech’s long-term successor.

 

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AND THE REST

Chelsea are monitoring Aaron Ramsey’s situation at Arsenal (Daily Mirror)

Liverpool are set to battle it out with Arsenal for Real Madrid star Lucas Vazquez (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea face a desperate battle to keep Eden Hazard after their Champions League exit (Daily Mirror)

Arsenal want to hand midfielder Mohamed Elneny a new deal (Daily Mirror)

Sam Allardyce has turned to a sports psychologist to end Everton’s away-day blues (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has reportedly sent his agent to hold talks with Juventus (Daily Express)

Arsene Wenger faces an anxious wait after Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny was forced off injured against AC Milan (The Sun)

Gareth Southgate will give England players the option to withdraw from the World Cup if they are worried about travelling to Russia (Daily Express)

Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane has admitted he has received contact from Jose Mourinho (Daily Express)

Marcos Alonso has aimed a slight dig at the Chelsea board about their transfer policy following their Champions League exit (Daily Star)

England players will be encouraged to come off social media while they are at the World Cup (Daily Telegraph)

Olivier Giroud says he made the right decision in leaving Arsenal for Chelsea in January (The Independent)

Antonio Conte has admitted that his Chelsea destiny will not be decided by whether or not he can win the FA Cup, with the Italian expected to leave Stamford Bridge even if the club salvage their season (Daily Telegraph)