Paper Round: Manchester United give Louis van Gaal £150m to spend

United to spend £150 million this summer - Manchester United want Sergio Ramos, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Karim Benzema and Jasper Cillessen and are ready to spend £150m on the quartet, according to The Mirror. Louis van Gaal wants proven talent instead of young prospects and thinks that those four can strengthen the team right through the middle to put them back in the race for the league title.

Paper Round's view - All four of those players would be upgrades for Manchester United (besides Cillessen, who isn't as good as David De Gea, but attempting to find someone as good as the Spaniard is a fool’s errand) so it makes sense that Van Gaal is chasing all four. But those players are all at established clubs that won't be dying to sell so it's tough to imagine Man United landing all of them. Realistically, they will probably spend a lot of money and end up with two of them, which would still make the Red Devils better next season.

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Wilshere is City's back-up for Pogba - Manchester City want Jack Wilshere, but he's not their first choice. The Sun understand that City have listed Wilshere as a back-up option if they fail to sign Paul Pogba. Juventus want £71m for Pogba, which could be too much and, if it is, Man City will turn to Wilshere. Arsenal will probably want £40m for the England midfielder.

Paper Round's view - It's looking more and more like Pogba will stay at Juventus for another year, then join Barcelona after their transfer ban is over. If not, Real Madrid or PSG look like a good bet. Man City are outsiders now, so they better have a back-up plan. Wilshere is a pretty good one and satisfies their need for homegrown players, but Wilshere will want guarantees of playing time, which is going to be tough considering his injury history that has too often left him in poor form.

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Jones will sign new deal at United - Phil Jones is ready to stick around at Old Trafford. The Mail understand that the defender will sign a new contract with Man United for around £80,000-per-week, ending speculation that he might leave the club. Jones' current contract with the Red Devils expires after next season and the lack of a new deal had some questioning if he would stay, but now he will sign on the dotted line and stay in Manchester United red.

Paper Round's view - Jones has had some ups and downs at United since joining four years ago and those continued into last season under Louis van Gaal. But while some have questioned whether he has lived up to his potential, there is no doubting that he is one of the Red Devils' best defenders. United have problems at the back and while they need to make some signings to shore things up, they also need to keep the good ones they have, like Jones.

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Liverpool hopeful of landing Kovacic - Liverpool have been given a boost in their bid to sign Mateo Kovacic, according to The Sun. Inter Milan have completed the signing of Geoffrey Kondogbia for £25m, but they face Financial Fair Play sanctions so they have to sell Kovacic to fund that signing now. That means Kovacic is on the market and Liverpool are after the playmaker, who Inter are hoping to get £18m for.

Paper Round's view - Inter Milan were always going to spend this summer, but there's a limit to how much they can shell out and in buying Kondogbia, they went over that threshold. Now they have to sell and that means dealing Kovacic. Barcelona want him, but they're under a transfer ban so Liverpool's top competition is out of the picture and they are the clear favourites to land the Croatian.

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Fenerbahce think they'll land Nani - Nani could finally be on his way out of Manchester United. The Mail claim that Fenerbahce believe they will finalise a £7m deal for the winger, much to the delight of United, who want to rid themselves of him. The only question is whether Nani will sign off on the deal because he has yet to commit to joining Fenerbahce if the deal is struck despite an offer of £55,000-per-week after taxes.

Paper Round's view - United have absolutely no use for Nani so they just want to get rid of him and get his wages off of their books. If Nani agrees to Fenerbahce's offer, it may not even take £7m to get the deal done. Man United will obviously hold out for that, but taking a little less would be worth it to never have to write Nani a weekly cheque ever again.