Paper Talk: Man Utd’s sneaky move for £60m City target; Ozil exit
Manchester United are facing another January transfer battle with Manchester City, while Liverpool hope to tie down two of their star talents to new deals, according to Sunday’s newspapers.
UNITED MAKE JANUARY RAID FOR MAN CITY TARGET
Manchester United have joined Manchester City in the £60m fight for Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves, according to reports on Sunday.
City have been keen on the midfielder for some time and were reportedly planning to make their move for the Portugal midfielder next summer.
But The Sun on Sunday claims in an exclusive that Manchester United will look to beat their city rivals to the player by bringing forward their own plans to land Neves by six months – and are ready to strike a £60m deal for the player in January.
The paper claims United boss Jose Mourinho has been thoroughly impressed by how Neves has handled the step up in quality to the Premier League and, knowing the player well, will soon make advances to bring the former Porto star to Old Trafford in the winter transfer window.
Neves – dubbed the Portuguese Andrea Pirlo – shares Mourinho’s agent, Jorge Mendes, so is said to be hopeful of a deal.
The two clubs went head to head last January for then-Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez and another January transfer battle between the duo could be on the cards.
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AND THE REST
Liverpool have opened contract talks with defender Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who could soon be earning £50,000 and £60,000-per-week respectively (The Sun on Sunday)
Premier League clubs are set to force through a move to ensure next summer’s transfer window closes on August 31 (The Sun on Sunday)
West Brom and Nottingham Forest hope to sign former Crystal Palace forward Bakary Sako (The Sun on Sunday)
EXCLUSIVE: Aston Villa and Middlesbrough both want to sign Sako
Edwin van der Sar says rumours of a return to Manchester United as director of football are “nonsense.” (The Sun on Sunday)
Manchester City hope to sign Real Betis defender Junior Firpo as back-up for Benjamin Mendy (The Sun on Sunday)
Manchester United are being taken to court by Belgian side Genk over their signing of teenager Indy Boonen in 2015 – Boonen has since left United to join KV Oostende on a free transfer (The Sun on Sunday)
John Terry is set to earn £1.8m a year after tax when he signs for Spartak Moscow (Sunday Telegraph)
Fenerbahce will try to tempt Mesut Ozil back to Turkey in January, using his current unrest at Arsenal as part of their bargaining (Daily Star Sunday)
Luke Shaw will be offered a new £130,000-a-week contract at Manchester United, with his current deal scheduled to expire next summer (Daily Star Sunday)
Malcolm Macdonald has warned Newcastle could be relegated and have manager Rafa Benitez leave the club (Daily Star Sunday)
Eddie Howe is set to sign a new contract with Bournemouth which could see his pay packet increase fourfold to £3m per season (Sunday Mirror)
Zinedine Zidane has been compiling a list of transfer targets just in case Manchester United dismiss Jose Mourinho and ask him to take over (Sunday Mirror)
Watford have won the race to sign highly-rated Vozdovac forward Filip Stuparevic, beating off competition from Juventus and Valencia for the Serbian (Sunday Mirror)
Aston Villa are ready to offer a deal to out-of-contract former Leicester City defender Robert Huth (Sunday Mirror)
Eric Cantona says Jose Mourinho is the wrong man to take charge of Manchester United and feels Pep Guardiola would bring the glory days back to Old Trafford (Mail on Sunday)
Jay-Z has become Romelu Lukaku’s new agent via his company Roc Nation Sports (Mail on Sunday)
Ross McCormack is set to join Usain Bolt at the A-League’s Central Coast Mariners, with a loan deal from Aston Villa being worked on (Mail on Sunday)
Manchester City will have to pay Borussia Dortmund £68m if they want to land midfield target Julian Weigl in January (Sunday Express)
AC Milan could make a double swoop on Chelsea with serious interest in defender David Luiz and midfielder Cesc Fabregas (Sunday Express)
Manchester United could find themselves priced out of a move for Atletico Madrid left-back Lucas Hernandez (Sunday Express)