Paper Round: Aymeric Laporte on verge of Manchester City move

Manchester City have agreed a fee of £57m with Athletic Bilbao for their central defender Aymeric Laporte. Laporte failed to play for Athletic in their game against Eibar last night, suggesting he is ready to leave the club. The fee would be the highest paid by City, who spent £55m on bringing Kevin De Bruyne to the club. Laporte can play in central defence, and at left-back.

Paper Round's view: Laporte is an extremely promising player, and at 23, would potentially form a steady partnership with John Stones that could last for years. Given Benjamin Mendy's serious knee injury, he can also provide cover over the course of the rest of the season. With Vincent Kompany often injured, and Nicolas Otamendi occasionally unreliable, strengthening the defence is a sensible move.

Real Madrid are making plans for life without current boss Zinedine Zidane. Zidane is expected to leave in the summer after a difficult season, and Real have already made contact with associates of Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino about the possibility of him taking over. Pochettino would not want to leave mid-season, but the Spanish club are confident that a huge transfer budget and the reputation of the club could get their man.

Paper Round's view: Pochettino is the obvious choice, in many respects. He plays attractive, hard-running football which would suit Real as they start to overhaul their ageing squad. As well as that, he has experience in the Champions League, and would not have such an ego that he clashes too much with Florentino Perez. He would also help should Real target Harry Kane and other Spurs players in the summer.

Lucas Moura is expected to join Spurs for a fee of £25m in the coming days. Moura had rarely featured for Paris Saint-Germain this season after the signings of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, and the French side needed to sell in order to start complying with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules. The two sides have now agreed on a fee for the 25-year-old.

Paper Round's view: Moura impressed in his time at PSG, but of course he was not able to compete with the talent of Neymar and Mbappe. He offers speed and direct play down either wing, and has an eye for goal, too. He may not be especially better than some of Spurs' first team choices, but he will be a useful squad member as they compete over the second half of a busy season.

Arsenal have made an offer of £10m and Mathieu Debuchy as they attempt to prise Jonny Evans from West Bromwich Albion before the transfer deadline expires on Wednesday, next week. Debuchy, 32, has fallen out of favour with Arsene Wenger, and the lowball offer represents the fact that Evans is 30 himself, and has just 18 months left on his current contract.

Paper Round's view: Debuchy is competent enough, but give the asking price for Evans seems to be around £30m, it is impossible to consider the French fullback to be worth anything close to a £20m makeweight. Evans is a reasonable back-up for the Premier League, and could play well in a back three given his lack of leadership skills, so Wenger must decide whether or not to stump up the cash.