Paper Round: Chelsea to appease Antonio Conte with fresh Alex Sandro bid, Sam Allardyce to sue FA

The Daily Mirror reports that Chelsea will attempt to woo Antonio Conte into extending his contract with the club by making a fresh bid for Alex Sandro. Conte opted not to extend his three-year contract with the West Londoners last summer and has been linked with a move to AC Milan, but the club hope to prove their commitment to him by bagging the 26-year-old Juventus star - as well as Arsenal wantaway Alexis Sanchez.

Paper Round’s view: It was a disappointing summer for Chelsea perhaps and you could understand Conte if he was frustrated by his club’s lack of action in the transfer window, despite wide acknowledgement of a squad in need of rotation options. It’s also possible that Conte thinks he’s had the best of the club with a league win in his maiden season and vastly improved competition this season. If bolstering the squad would help, it’s hard to imagine Arsene Wenger would want to sell Sanchez to another Premier League team come January, least of all Chelsea. Sandro, however, has frequently been linked to Chelsea.

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Former Manchester United star and Republic of Ireland assistant coach Roy Keane makes Wednesday’s back pages after appearing to mock concerns over injuries related to heading the ball. Former Ireland forward Kevin Doyle recently retired citing persistent headaches as the reason and referring to heading as “problematic.” Keane’s advice? “If you’re worried about the physical side of any sport…then play chess.”

Paper Round’s view: Roy Keane in controversial quotes shocker. No, we’re not that surprised either, to be honest. As for the quotes themselves, or course Keane is right, there is an element of risk, but perhaps it would also be reasonable to make a better calculation of it in a number of sports.

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Paul Pogba has been issued with a “Pogban” from “shooting hoops” during his time in the US undergoing treatment for a hamstring injury that could rule him out until December. The 6’5” midfielder has apparently been told by Manchester United bosses that his “obsession” with slam dunking could cause the 24-year-old further injury and indeed, so says The Sun, may have contributed to the injury in the first place.

Paper Round’s view: Not being doctors, we’re not really in a position to judge the likelihood of the midfielder’s extra-curricular activities having caused his recent injury. Nor are we in full possession of the facts with regards to just how obsessed Pogba really is with slam dunking/shooting hoops. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to suggest if he can’t play football, he probably shouldn’t be playing basketball?

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The Football Association’s “year from hell” is set to continue, according to Wednesday’s Daily Mail which leads with a story on “Big” Sam Allardyce, who was sacked as England manager last year after a sting by the Daily Telegraph. The newspaper claims it has seen a copy of a 5,000 word letter sent to the FA by Allardyce’s lawyers who, so says the newspaper, “question the process” by which the FA made the decision to let him go, in particular the speed with which it was made, within 24 hours of the publication of the Telegraph's damning article.

Paper Round’s view: The source quoted by The Mail has a point in that the FA took action before any investigation could have taken place. However, with Allardyce caught on camera appearing to advise on how to circumvent his employer’s rules on third-party ownership, he must understand from a presentational perspective, it didn’t look great for him. And that’s before you even start on that pint glass.

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