Paper Round: Barcelona ready £80m Philippe Coutinho bid

Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool are not buckling in the face of interest from Barcelona for 25-year-old Brazil forward Philippe Coutinho. Barcelona are said to be readying a £80m bid to follow up one for £72m which has already been rejected. Klopp has spoken with Coutinho, and told the press: "We are approaching a very important moment and we want to get better. For this we have to keep our key players. So that’s the answer.” FSG, Liverpool's owners, are not entertaining talks with Barcelona.

Paper Round's view: FSG are strong negotiators in transfers when it comes to sales. When Luis Suarez wanted to move to Arsenal once his release clause was activated, Liverpool simply refused to budge despite that. If they are not interested in accepting a bid for Coutinho - and they don't need the money - then it is up to Coutinho to force through a transfer by himself, knowing how tough they made it for Suarez to leave when he tried before his Barcelona move.

Manchester United's interest in 24-year-old Italian midfielder, PSG's Marco Verratti, has ended as the French club have asked for Anthony Martial in exchange. Ed Woodward is not prepared to release Martial, 21, and allow him to return back to his country. United continue to be interested in Nemanja Matic, but Chelsea are refusing to negotiate on their £50m asking price, meaning United have been looking for alternatives.

Paper Round's view: The temptation is always to give young players a chance after a disappointing season, but United have plenty of other options on the wings, like Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. If, in exchange, they can get the youthful Verratti, then they would be losing a player with an unconvincing attitude in order to strengthen a weak area. It seems like a mistake to refuse to allow Martial to leave in these circumstances.

Manchester City and Liverpool remain in contention for Monaco's 18-year-old France striker Kylian Mbappe. Barcelona could make a move should they lose Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, but Real Madrid are favourites to sign Mbappe. According to The Sun, Real believe that they will complete a £120m signature in the next two weeks.

Paper Round's view: Mbappe has the option to move from Monaco to Madrid, or to Liverpool or Manchester. City have Pep Guardiola, but Real Madrid have the history and chance of immediate success that City simply cannot offer as yet. For Liverpool, it is hard to see what they can offer to Mbappe that even Monaco cannot better. Liverpool and City may remain in the race for the player, but it is hard to credit their chances.

Following a friendly match against West Brom, Wiflried Zaha took to Instagram to complain about Manchester United and Liverpool fans of calling him a 'black monkey'. In his post he said: ""If Man United and Liverpool fans feel better by calling me a black monkey in my messages .. feel free to carry on if it makes your day better," and did not give any further details of the messages that had been sent to him.

Paper Round's view: It is depressing and unsurprising that Zaha faces this kind of abuse on social media. Liverpool and Manchester United fans both have a history of racism on the internet, and as Liverpool fans showed with Patrice Evra, and Manchester United fans showed over Emmanuel Adebayor, they both have form for doing it in the physical world too. It is a sad indictment of both football fan and the internet that this continues.