Paper Round: Real Madrid, Barcelona will fight Manchester City for Leroy Sane

Manchester City have company in the race for Leroy Sane. The Mirror report that Zinedine Zidane is taking an interest in Sane and Barcelona have been watching the Schalke youngster for two months now. Schalke want £40 million for the 20-year-old, who has considered one of the Bundesliga's best young players. Manchester City have been tracking the midfielder for months now, but they will not be the only team trying to sign him when bidding opens up in the summer.

Paper Round's view - Sane is already a fine player and he looks bound to be a talent who can play for any club in the world so it's no wonder that Europe's biggest clubs are after him. £40m may seem like a lot of money, but it could end up being a bargain if he continues to improve the way he has been. Sane would be a good fit for Man City, who have made a point of snapping up talented young players, and there is more opportunity for playing time.

Branislav Ivanovic and Chelsea will sign a new contract that will keep the player at the club for at least one more season, according to The Sun. The 31-year-old's current deal expires in the summer and he has been in talks with the Blues about staying at Stamford Bridge. Ivanovic wanted a two-year deal, but that would violate Chelsea's policy of only giving one-year contracts to all players over 30 years old. Chelsea found a middle ground, though, offering a one-year contract with an option for a second year that will be automatically exercised if Ivanovic plays a certain number of matches.

Paper Round's view - It's interesting that Chelsea decided to bring Ivanovic back for another season. He has been one of their best players for years, but has been dreadful this season and, considering his age, it seems unlikely that he will regain his form of old. He seemed like the prototypical player that Chelsea would move on from and, with Ivanovic fielding offers from various Italian clubs, this looked to be an ideal situation for both sides to part ways. Instead, Chelsea are betting that he plays much better for the remainder of this season and next. We'll see if he does.

Manchester United's pursuit of Saul Niguez is all but over after Atletico Madrid blocked any potential deal. Now, The Star understand that the Red Devils are trying for Valencia's Andre Gomes. The Portuguese has drawn interest from Juventus and Napoli, but his agent Jorge Mendes would prefer that he join Man United and, ideally, would put both Gomes and Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.

Paper Round's view - Manchester United need help in midfield and it's clear they know that. Morgan Schneiderlin hasn't been at his best, Bastian Schweinsteiger has battled injury and the rest of the Red Devils midfield is as underwhelming as they were a year ago. Signing Niguez in January was always going to be a long shot because Atletico Madrid have no interest in selling a key player while they're in a title race, but getting Valencia to give up Gomes is more likely.

Nemanja Vidic is no longer an Inter Milan player. The former Manchester United stalwart has left the club by mutual consent and The Mail claim he is now eyeing a move to MLS. Vidic had injury problems while in Milan and did not make a single appearance for Inter this season. That led to both sides' willingness to part ways and now the Serbian has multiple offers to go play in the USA.

Paper Round's view - Unfortunately, it's not much of a surprise that Vidic has been bothered by injuries and has struggled to get on the pitch. His body began to break down while still at United and being a 34-year-old, hulking defender who has injury problems isn't an enviable place to be. It is possible that Vidic has offers from MLS, but no team in the USA would be wise to pay him particularly big wages and his effectiveness there will be entirely linked to his fitness, which isn't exactly promising.

Sunderland may make another run at Lorient's Lamine Kone in a £5m deal, per The Chronicle. The Black Cats nearly signed the defender two weeks ago, with Kone travelling to Sunderland for a medical and to discuss personal terms, but the deal fell apart. Lorient were furious that Kone missed matches for a deal that never got done. Sunderland will not give up, though. They still could try again with a source calling a deal "a possibility."

Paper Round's view - There's no doubt that Sunderland could use help in defence and Sam Allardyce will never shy away from adding a big, strong defender. The Black Cats manager has already said he may sign two more players and Kone would fit his system well. That they went as far with him as they did two weeks ago shows that they have genuine interest and rate him highly. The question is whether they have burned their bridges with the player and Lorient.