Paper Talk: Man Utd finally settle on £91m Herrera replacement

Manchester United want a Benfica midfielder as their long-term successor to Ander Herrera, while Dani Ceballos already knows that his stay at Arsenal will be brief, according to Monday’s newspapers.

 

MAN UTD JOIN CITY IN HUNT FOR BENFICA MIDFIELDER 

Manchester United have joined Manchester City in the hunt for Benfica’s latest sensation Florentino Luis.

Just two months after losing Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid for a nine-figure sum, the Portuguese giants find themselves scrapping to keep another of their teenage prodigies, with Luis the man (boy!) in demand.

According to both the Daily Star and the Daily Record, and via Portuguese paper Record – both Manchester clubs want to bring in the tigerish midfielder, with City having seen a £55m bid rejected this summer.

The player is seen by Pep Guardiola as a potential long-term replacement for Fernandinho, and while the Blues eventually signed Rodri from Atletico, it’s claimed they could come back in either in January or next summer.

But any approach will be rivaled by Manchester United, with A Bola claiming United scouts have extensively scouted the player this season. United didn’t replace Ander Herrera this summer and the Portuguese paper reckons the player has shot to the top of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s wanted list as a long-term successor to the Spaniard.

His arrival at Old Trafford could also trigger the exit of Nemanja Matic, whop has found game time hard to come by this season.

The Portugal youth international currently has a release clause at €95m (£91m), but that could rise if he is rewarded with a new contract this term.

 

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AND THE REST

Dani Ceballos TEAMtalk

Dani Ceballos told Real Madrid not to sell him before he completed his move to Arsenal this summer (Metro)

Liverpool could be boosted by the return of Naby Keita next weekend once the international break is over (Daily Express)

Newcastle were interested in making Quique Sanchez Flores the successor to Rafa Benitez during the 2016/17 season (Daily Express)

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola wants Inter defender Milan Skriniar to solve his injury crisis in January (Daily Express)

Chelsea hope to be able to sign players again in January after appealing their transfer window ban (Daily Express)

Paul Pogba stayed at Manchester United instead of moving to Real Madrid because of a £150m sports sponsorship deal (The Sun)

Danny Rose claims he has no point to prove to Spurs despite the club wanting to sell him in the summer (The Sun)

FA chief Greg Clarke has slammed social media companies over racist abuse aimed at players (The Sun)

Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe decided against buying Chelsea because the stadium problems would take too long to resolve (The Sun)

Granit Xhaka is planning to take time off from playing for Arsenal next month around the birth of his first child (The Sun)

 

Alan Shearer says Harry Kane has the ability to break Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring record for England (The Sun)

Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to start at right-back for England against Kosovo (The Times)

Leeds are close to securing a five-year extension to 23-year-old midfielder Kalvin Phillips’ contract, after the player was the subject of interest from Aston Villa and Burnley in pre-season (Daily Telegraph)

Harry Kane has set his sights on scoring 30 England goals before targeting Wayne Rooney’s record (Daily Telegraph)

Watford sacked Javi Gracia as their head coach because they feared the team had “gone flat” under him and would struggle to climb up the Premier League table (Daily Telegraph)

Liverpool have no plans to offer Virgil van Dijk a new contract, despite reports to the contrary (Daily Star)

Barcelona are plotting to offer a “life contract” to Lionel Messi (Daily Mirror)

Gareth Southgate is keeping tabs on Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson who made his debut for Wales U21s last week, after previously playing for England U16s & U17s (Daily Mirror)

Roy Keane insists there are still questions marks over Harry Maguire’s defensive capabilities following his record-breaking £80m move to Manchester United (Daily Mail)