Paper Round: Mario Balotelli set for shock Championship move

As he looks to revitalise his career, Mario Balotelli could be in line for a sensational, shocking move to the Championship with Wolves, according to the Express. The striker spoke to old mentor Jose Mourinho earlier in the week, who advised him to look outside the Premier League for his next step - and this could be it.

Paper Round's view: Stranger things have happened, but presumably Balotelli will be cutting back his wage demands at least slightly, because that was rumoured to have been a stumbling block for every potential move mooted this close season. Practicalities like that aside, this could be an excellent decision on his part - he needs regular football and plenty of goals to get himself back up and running.

Joey Barton has decided that for some reason it's up to him to weigh in and come to the defence of abandoned Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, says the Mirror. He called the club's treatment of their former first choice "disgusting", and urged manager Pep Guardiola to give Hart a chance to "prove himself".

Paper Round's view: It's not quite clear what Barton thinks is disgusting - dropping a player? Looking to loan him out so he doesn't rot on the bench? Replacing him? It all seems fairly standard, and customary when a new manager takes over and assesses the staff he has available. If he's seen Hart previously and in training and doesn't like what he sees, why would he pick him? This looks like a bit of an overreaction on Barton's part, to be honest. Who'd have thought?

Claudio Ranieri is gleeful after getting another one up on Arsene Wenger, according to the Sun. He managed to persuade both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to stay with the Foxes for 2016-17 rather than jumping ship to London, which the Sun judges to be a "slap-down".

Paper Round's view: Does anyone really think Claudio Ranieri sits around caring about what Arsene Wenger thinks? No, us neither. If he's gleeful about slapping down anything it'd be everyone else's title challenges last year.

"Sir Jason and Dame Laura?" trumpets the very front page of the Daily Express. They reckon that gold medallists Kenny and Trott will get the high honour of a knighthood and damehood respectively at the earliest possible opportunity.

Paper Round's view: Anyone who achieves anything notable will always get their name linked with some kind of honour these days. While the 1966 England World Cup winners never received knighthoods across the board, they're doled out more liberally these days - for example, the England men's cricket team getting MBEs for finally managing to win an Ashes series. It'd be hard to begrudge Trott and Kenny official recognition - but we're a touch curmudgeonly and wonder whether these kinds of gongs should only be awarded to mark achievement across an entire career. 24-year-old Trott would be the youngest-ever Dame, for example, beating Ellen McArthur by four whole years. Why not wait another four years and see how many more records they break? Of course, that's leaving aside any political debates about the honours system as a concept...who's to say Team GB's darlings would accept any such offer?