Football news, transfer rumours and gossip - Arsenal 'set to sign £53m Dayot Upamecano'

The Sun reports that Arsenal are closing in on RB Leipzig central defender Dayot Upamecano. The 21-year-old Frenchman has a release clause of £53 million which expires at the end of June, but his contract also is up at the end of next season, which means that his current club have to sell him in order to get some funds from losing him.

Paper Round’s view: Arsenal may be letting David Luiz go as his contract does not have to be renewed for another season, and that might go some way to freeing up cash on the books for Upamecano’s salary. Mikel Arteta has done well at Arsenal so far but having a promising young central defender would solve a lot of problems for them in the short and medium term.

Manchester United youngster Angel Gomes is now close to extending his contract at Old Trafford when it had appeared that he would likely leave the club when his contract expired in the summer. The Daily Mail mentions that Chelsea had been interested in the 19-year-old winger but he is now likely to sign a new £25,000-a-week deal to stay.

Paper Round’s view: Chelsea’s signing of Timo Werner and their targeting of Kai Havertz may mean that there is no longer any need to sign Gomes from United, and with the pressures of coronavirus on clubs’ bottom lines, perhaps they do not want to take a risk on a player who has barely any first team experience. Nevertheless, he is an intriguing talent and United will be glad not to lose him on a free.

Norwich City are the latest big-name club to confirm the presence of coronavirus at their set-up. The Mirror reports that a player for Norwich City will now self-isolate for seven days and will not be allowed back into training until he gives a clear test. The club said in a statement: "The club will not name the player in question and asks that his request for privacy and confidentiality are respected at this time."

Paper Round’s view: With the death rate still lingering in the United Kingdom, and with reports of a stubbornly high infection rate, it is no surprise that footballers are still coming down with the illness. It demonstrates how vulnerable every team and the whole league is to COVID-19, and it makes the chances of completing the league appear somewhat slim.

The Telegraph reports on the proposed salary cap in the EFL and whether it would have unintended consequences. Gordon Taylor believes that introducing a cap could put off future investors and may lead to obfuscation in clubs finances as they battle to meet a restriction of £18 million in the Championship, £2.5m in League One and £1.25m in League Two.

Paper Round’s view: If investors are put off by an inability to put a club’s finances in jeopardy then that is probably for the best, given the amount of clubs that have recently struggled. A cap does of course bring with it its own problems, but curtailing unsustainable splurges is a pressing priority especially after the damage done by Covid.