Paper Round: Klopp joins Guardiola in Aubameyang chase, Arsenal eye Lacazette

Tuesday’s big news was Pep Guardiola’s rumoured bid to land Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a contingency plan if Sergio Aguero moves on from Manchester City. Reports on Wednesday suggest that Pep could have competition in the form of Aubameyang’s former Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp, who wants to bring his former prodigy to Anfield. The Sun reports the bid would be funded by the £40m sale of Daniel Sturridge to West Ham.

Paper Round’s view: City are heavily reliant on the goal-scoring prowess of Aguero and of course would look to fill his not insignificant boots if he were to move on – Aubameyang is an attractive prospect, no doubt. And sure, City would be an attractive target. Though it is true Aubameyang was given his big break by Klopp, and frankly, we all know who we’d rather work for if we had to choose between him and Guardiola. Would Liverpool have the pulling power against the financial muscle of a club such as City?

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Hot on the heels of Alexandre Lacazette’s announcement that he’s ready to move on from Lyon, the rumour mill around his next destination has been cranked up, with two London clubs ready to bid for the striker, according to reports. Both Arsenal and West Ham are said to be keeping tabs on the France international.

Paper Round’s view: We’ve heard before that the two clubs were interested in Lacazette with both rumoured to have made unsuccessful bids in the past. Arsenal are in dire need of a striker and Arsene Wenger’s position looks increasingly untenable without making a big signing – and Lacazette may not come cheap. Reports suggest West Ham were snubbed by Lyon previously, who said they’d need to stump up £10m more than their bid of £32m for the 25-year-old. That said, Arsenal will have a few quid to play with if they lose Alexis Sanchez this summer…

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The Daily Mirror reports that West Ham striker Andy Carroll could be on the cusp of an England recall with Gareth Southgate set to drop in on the London Stadium this weekend ahead of his squad selection for March’s internationals. The 28-year-old has nine England caps, but reckons it’s his fitness that has prevented him from playing more at international level.

Paper Round’s view: Since returning from injury in December, Carroll has been in fine form, helping a struggling West Ham to ninth in the league. Though England have a few options in terms of goalscorers, they haven’t been doing so much in the way of scoring just lately, have they? Jamie Vardy has netted just five times this season in 21 appearances, Daniel Sturridge has endured a miserable season at Liverpool, not to mention the oft pondered Rooney conundrum – surely Carroll’s done enough in the face of admittedly not the stiffest of competition, to warrant serious consideration?

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Claudio Ranieri dominates Wednesday’s back pages after Leicester City’s owners released a statement giving their full backing to the Italian coach. Though Ranieri took his team from nowhere to last year’s shock Premier League victors, it has been a pretty dire season with a relegation dogfight now looking increasingly likely. In turn, Ranieri has backed his “warriors” to come up trumps and triumph once more in the face of adversity.

Paper Round’s view: We can’t argue with Ranieri that not winning does not instil confidence in players. When you’ve only won two of your past 15 league games, perhaps you have more reason than most to question yourselves. So imagine then, how the board must really be feeling?

“Unwavering support” is nice, but it may not prevent Leicester from a total turnaround this season and let’s be honest, once boards start this kind of chat, managers don’t stick around much longer. Like everyone, we love Ranieri, but it’s going to take more than a dilly dong to fix Leicester’s season.

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