Eddie Howe 'lined up as Arsene Wenger’s replacement'

Arsene Wenger is in the last year of his contract, and whenever he's ready to step down, the Arsenal board want Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe to take on the role, according to the Daily Star.

Paper Round's view: The thing that makes this believable is the absolute insistence that the timing of all this is up to Wenger himself. The board aren't looking to shove him out of the door - they're preparing for the retirement of a long-serving member of staff and seeking his replacement. This isn't wild speculation about secretive machinations or a coup - this is sensible succession planning.

Think Champions League football would be enough to keep any player happy? Think again. Leicester City's Leonardo Ulloa wants only to play first-team football, and has told manager Claudio Ranieri that if he can't offer that then he'll be on his way. To Swansea, apparently, according to the Sun.

Paper Round's view: Stranger things have happened - Esteban Cambiasso signing for the Foxes, for example. It's perfectly conceivable that a 30-year-old player would want to make more than seven starts in a season - all he managed in 2015-16. Swansea are clearing the decks - all the better to meet the transfer fee and his salary requirements.

After a slump in form last season, Eden Hazard has vowed to repay Chelsea for their faith in him in 2016-17, reports the Express. He's aiming for another Footballer of the Year award as well as another league title.

Paper Round's view: Hazard had a lot of problems last season - not all his fault, such as the injuries he kept picking up. As the cliché goes, though, form is temporary, class is permanent. One of Antonio Conte's challenges for the new season will be motivating Hazard to his title-winning form.

What's the first thing to do when a football club moves into a new stadium? And not just any new stadium, but a beautiful, iconic landmark, constructed with taxpayers' money, and emblematic of one of the greatest sporting events of all time? You sell off its naming rights, of course. The Daily Mail report that the London Legacy Development Corporation are striking a deal with Tesco to rename the Olympic Stadium when West Ham move in.

Paper Round's view: Call us sentimentalists, but it seems awfully sad - if commercially pragmatic - that the Olympic Stadium is going to end up emblazoned with a supermarket's logo. There'll be plenty of backlash around this, too, as West Ham continue to maximise their profit from this stadium deal - they get 50 per cent of any of the money from a deal over £4m.