Paper Round: Real Madrid prepare £200m Eden Hazard switch, as Manchester United plan big changes

Following the exit of Thibaut Courtois to Real Madrid in exchange for £35m and the loan of midfielder Mateo Kovacic, there is a chance that Eden Hazard could now make the same move to Spain. Real are desperate to replace Cristiano Ronaldo and could offer £200m in order to prise him away from Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri has held talks with Hazard and he is not planning to force a move out of the club.

Paper Round’s view: It would be unlikely that Sarri and Chelsea would allow their two best players to leave in the same summer. They have done well in their abridged transfer window, bringing in both Jorginho and Kovacic in midfield, and Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal. £200m is a huge sum and might well have been tempting a few days ago, but it would be of no use now that Chelsea won’t have the chance to spend it for another five or so months.

Real Madrid are interested in another Premier League midfielder, this time Christian Eriksen. Eriksen has two years left on his deal in London, but Spurs have been unable to convince him to extend his contract so far. Eriksen could be seen as an alternative to Hazard, who seems set to stay, but he might also be brought in as a replacement for Luka Modric, who in turn has been linked to Inter Milan.

Paper Round’s view: A transfer away for Eriksen might be even less likely than a move to Real for Hazard. Chelsea brought in three new first-teamers while Spurs managed to sign absolutely no reinforcements for the new season. That means that unless Real can come up with an irresistible offer it makes no sense for Spurs to weaken their squad after a frustrating summer.

Jerome Boateng looks like he will still leave Bayern Munich. The 29-year-old is set for a move to Paris Saint-Germain. The Germany international should cost the French champions 50 million euros, and had previously been close to a move to Manchester United before a late move fell apart. In turn, Bayern have been linked with Benjamin Pavard, who currently plays for Stuttgart.

Paper Round’s view: Boateng has been injury prone for the last few seasons, so this appears to be another case of Bayern making good money for a player in the last stage of his career, as they did with Owen Hargreaves and Bastian Schweinsteiger. If they are able to sign Pavard, he would be a handy addition at right-back, though he is often used through the middle of defence by his current club.

Manchester United might be in the process of appointing a director of football. The current set-up is being overhauled in part because of the extra resources needed for their women’s team. The thinking behind the change to get in a director of football is to help with the long-term planning for transfer targets instead of changing from one manager’s wishlist to the next.

Paper Round’s view: The less Ed Woodward has to do with transfers, the better. He has already hamstrung United’s season by failing to get United any defender at. The problem for Woodward is that if he does appoint someone to take charge of transfers, he can still meddle, and might not be able to handle the blow to his ego.