Transfer news - Real Madrid 'ready for £150m Paul Pogba bid'

The Sun leads with a story that claims that Real Madrid are now ready to move for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba. The Spanish side look set to get Gareth Bale off their books with a move to the Chinese Super League, giving them the funds to launch a £150 million bid for the 26-year-old World Cup winner. Pogba wants to work with Real boss Zinedine Zidane.

Paper Round’s view: Real will surely need more than getting rid of Bale’s wages, so it depends how much money is received for the 30-year-old winger, and if they can sell more squad players in order to raise funds. For United, they reportedly have a deal in place for Bruno Fernandes should Pogba goes, and it’s hard to see how he could possibly be worse than Pogba.

Another Manchester United target, Harry Maguire, is preparing himself for a move to Old Trafford. The Mirror claims that Maguire has committed to Leicester City’s pre-season in order to make sure he is fully fit for the start of the season at Old Trafford, despite risking injury in friendlies, which could scupper any potential move. The paper expects a £78 million deal for the 26-year-old to be agreed this week.

Paper Round’s view: Maguire might not be the greatest central defender in the world, but there is plenty of promise that bringing him to United would improve the professionalism at the club. It is perhaps wrong to read Maguire’s pre-season involvement as some great commitment to United, rather it seems as if he would rather do the job he is paid to, which is not always the case with other players.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has had time to appraise his squad and has decided on the players that he is willing to move on,, according to the Daily Mail. 24-year-old midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko struggled in his first season at Stamford Bridge and could move to Everton instead after a loan last year at AC Milan, and 29-year-old former Leicester player Danny Drinkwater can leave too.

Paper Round’s view: Drinkwater never really got a chance at Chelsea, and a player of his talent will regard the move as a mistake. Having said that, he should be able to play on for many years yet given his style of play, and could prove a bargain for many Premier League sides. Bakayoko clearly had potential at Monaco, and will need to make sure he does not get stuck in the reserves.

Sevilla striker Wissam Ben Yedder has been linked with both Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, but the 28-year-old striker could be heading in the same direction as Gareth Bale. Spanish paper Marca says that Chinese side Beijing Sinobo Guoan are willing to pay him 12 million euros a season and could activate his release clause, which stands at around £36 million.

Paper Round’s view: Ben Yedder’s reliable goalscoring and cheap release clause should see him move on to any top club that needs a sensible option as a back-up striker, but they will probably not want to match the offer from the Chinese Super League. At just 28, Ben Yedder may prefer to stay in Europe for a couple more seasons before taking one last payday.