Football news - Manchester United 'want James Maddison and Raul Jimenez'

Manchester United are going to make an offer for Leicester City’s James Maddison according to the Mirror. The paper reports that United will offer a transfer fee of £45 million, plus their own attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard. United would also offer to almost triple Maddison’s wages to £150,000 a week. They expect that a deal would only be possible in the summer.

Paper Round’s view: Offering £45 million plus Lingard for a player is not much different than offering £45 million. Lingard has shown no improvement on the pitch in the last two years and at 27 is hardly likely to get any better. United might think they have little chance of getting Maddison now, but it is hard to see them getting him at any time with this kind of offer.

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to rule out his interest in Wolves striker Raul Jimenez. The Sun reports interest from United in the 28-year-old Mexican striker, who impressed for Wolves on Saturday during the clubs’ 0-0 draw. Solskjaer said after the game: “It’s loads of players who are being linked with us. I thought he came on and did really well today. But I can’t comment on the speculation.”

Paper Round’s view: Solskjaer has seen moves for Mario Mandzukic and then Erling Haaland fail to materialise, so even if he were interested in Jimenez, there is no advantage to him admitting it. If United were to make public their interest and fail in yet another transfer when they are struggling to secure a top-four finish, then they would embarrass themselves further and put themselves under more pressure.

The Daily Mail believe that Crystal Palace will attempt to secure Cenk Tosun on loan for the rest of the season. The 28-year-old Turkish striker is on the fringes of the Everton first team, and may also attract attention from Aston Villa and Newcastle. Villa are also keen on Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi at Chelsea, though the Blues would like to keep hold of Batshuayi.

Paper Round’s view: All three clubs are struggling to stay up this season, and one of their key weaknesses is a lack of goals. Giroud and Batshuayi have shown they can perform at the top level, if not necessarily consistently. Tosun impressed in Turkey but has yet to find his feat in the Premier League, so it would be a much bigger risk to pin hopes on him to find the back of the net.

Spanish newspaper Marca confirm that Real Madrid are set to sign Flamengo’s teenage Reinier Jesus. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder signed a new contract with his current club which reduces his release clause from 70 million euros to 30 million euros, and he will sign a deal when he turns 18 to make sure Real Madrid do not break any regulations. Reinier will join the Castilla side instead of the first team.

Paper Round’s view: Real Madrid are clearly not short of cash, nor are they unwilling to spend on players who go directly into the first eleven, but they have spent the last couple of seasons amassing many more young players than usual. This should stand them in good stead for growing a team sustainably, rather than chasing one superstar after the next, which can offer poor value for money.