Paper Round: Manchester City 'lead chase for £105m Joao Felix'

Manchester City are in pole position in the race for the signature of Joao Felix. They are prepared to offer £105 million for the Benfica teenager, according to the Mirror. They face competition from both Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, and Atletico are able to offer the 19 year old regular first team football. City, however, can afford to offer Benfica the chance to keep him at Portugal for another year by loaning him back.

Paper Round’s view: City have such a strong squad that they would not be harmed by allowing Felix to stay in Portugal for a year, and it may even help them. They would be sure of him getting a prominent role and first team football to allow him to develop before he comes to the Etihad, where more demands than ever could be placed on him.

The Sun meanwhile believes that Manchester United are much less patient when it comes to getting Harry Maguire from Leicester City. They are prepared to offer £80 million and meet Leicester City's asking price for the 26-year-old central defender, and will even offer £350,000 a week in wages to secure the deal. They think Maguire’s relationship with Mike Phelan from their time at Hull City could help.

Paper Round’s view: Maguire was available for millions fewer last season, but Woodward didn't spring for him then because he did not believe that he was any better than the defenders the club already had. While that was untrue and untrue now, yet again Woodward being in charge of transfers could waste yet more of the club’s money and hold back any progress.

In the Daily Mail, the paper reports that Maurizio Sarri and Antonio Conte are set to go head to head in the race for next season’s Serie A title, and that they may end up helping each other do so. The report suggests that the two clubs could swap a pair of their star names, with Mauro Icardi moving to Juventus and Pablo Dybala going the other way.

Paper Round’s view: Icardi’s relationship with Inter can currently be best be described as strained, and trying to deal with the high-strung Conte might finish it off for good. Dybala has no place at Juventus, or rather, he is now barely thought of behind Cristiano Ronaldo, and he would likely embrace the limelight in Milan. The swap makes perfect sense for everyone concerned.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s move to Manchester United could be moving ahead, as the Express claims that Crystal Palace have identified his replacement. They want Timothy Castagne, Atalanta’s £20 million-rated Belgian 23-year-old right-back to join this summer. There have also been further negotiations with United, and they want any deal for Wan-Bissaka to include the negation of a sell-on clause that they have for Wilfried Zaha.

Paper Round’s view: The sell-on clause could be worth above £15 million if Zaha moves on for a transfer fee, but there is no guarantee that he won’t ultimately run down his contract, so if United can use it as a cash substitute now, they should seize the chance to do so. Wan-Bissaka is a huge talent and would give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the means to improve his poor defence.