Paper Round: Sergio Aguero wants Real Madrid move, North London battle for Adrien Rabiot?

The big exclusive in the Sun is that Sergio Aguero wants to join Real Madrid in the summer. Aguero reportedly fears that he will be relegated to the bench when Gabriel Jesus returns to full fitness and as such wants to push through a move to Madrid. However, Real will have to pay at least £60 million to secure his services.

Paper Round's view: The lack of fight shown by Aguero must be a bit worrying for Manchester City if this is indeed true and it puts them in a difficult position. Of course they don't want to keep an unhappy player but they also don't want to strengthen one of their Champions League rivals. Paper Round wonders if Aguero is still serious about returning to Independiente in a few years...

- - - - -

Adrien Rabiot has been talking again and the gist of it is that he is in no rush to sign a new deal, and will consider all options. The Mirror report that this has alerted Tottenham Hotspur whilst the Mail say that Arsenal may make a move, which could obviously lead to a bidding war.

Paper Round's view: Rabiot has a habit of talking a lot, as does his mother/agent Veronique, so this is nothing new really. Neither is the interest of Spurs and Arsenal but it seems like this could be another summer where ultimately Rabiot moves nowhere. The reason being that this could well be the summer that Thiago Motta is really phased out and with Rabiot being excellent this season, he is starting to make the PSG midfield his own.

Read the Mirror story

and the Mail story

.

- - - - -

Saturday was a good day for Cesc Fabregas and he explained to the media after the 3-1 win over Swansea that his experience helped him due to his tough period on the sidelines at Chelsea. Fabregas said in the past he would have reacted poorly but now he's working hard to keep learning and developing even when he's not playing.

Paper Round's view: Fabregas gets a lot of stick but his attitude really has been commendable, and a testament to the spirit Antonio Conte has fostered in the squad. Fabregas may not have the defensive ability of Nemanja Matic or N'Golo Kante but he possesses an ability to unlock defences like few others, and he'll be crucial in the title run-in.

- - - - -

The Telegraph report that Leicester City will step up their search for a successor to Claudio Ranieri this week and caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare is under consideration following his work as an assistant. Guus Hiddink, Vitor Pereira and Alan Pardew are the other names mentioned.

Paper Round's view: Promoting assistants is pretty dangerous as results often seem inconsistent. Leicester might be tempted due to the performances of Paul Clement at Swansea but John Carver, Tim Sherwood and others hold warnings that not all coaches are ready to step up permanently.