Football news, transfer rumours and gossip - Liverpool may not lift Premier League trophy

Some Premier League clubs want the current season to be cancelled. According to the Sun newspaper, representatives from a number of sides have argued that with coronavirus not likely to have been resolved in the next month, and with no places in the league settled, the league should be annulled before starting again next summer from scratch.

Paper Round’s view: Adding teams who would have been promoted would mean more games for at least one more season, and it perhaps might lead to the cancellation of the League Cup to help make room for them. Additionally, it does seem unfair on Liverpool that they may be denied a trophy they had all but won. Nevertheless, there is little chance the league does get finished.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche has admitted that the club will eventually have to sell young forward Dwight McNeil. The 20-year-old player has impressed this season and been linked with a host of top Premier League sides. Dyche told the press: “There’s a reality when players come in, particularly when we’ve developed them as lower-league players for less money or the likes of Dwight McNeil. Just by the natural economics they’re going to go ‘well, OK, what did we bring that player in for and what’s the offer?’. The difference is that offer is now stretched because we don’t actually need the money.”

Paper Round’s view: McNeil is perhaps the best player that Burnley have had in several seasons, and there is a chance he could cut it for a top four player in England. The fact he is home grown swells his value further, as does the fact that Burnley have established themselves in the Premier League and do not need to sell in order to maintain their financial survial.

While the Sun thinks that the Premier League could be abandoned entirely, the Telegraph think that one likely outcome no matter what is that Liverpool will be awarded the Premier League title. The paper reports there is little opposition to the club being given the award, and there is no regulation stating what should happen in the event the season can't be completed.

Paper Round’s view: If the situation were different, or the race for the title was tighter, then a more compelling case to start again in August could be made. However Liverpool’s trophy win was almost entirely inevitable before the postponement was confirmed, and they will suffer enough by not being able to properly celebrate the win in front of their fans.

The Daily Mail runs with a story that suggests that the big six teams in the Premier League - Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs, presumably - want to be able to sell the rights to their Saturday 3pm games for the next round of broadcast rights sales, affecting the 2022-2025 period.

Paper Round’s view: Allowing sponsors and broadcast companies the chance to clip up more highlights and stream more games would provide more chances for everyone to earn more money. With tickets for games in relatively high demand still, it appears it would not harm the revenue streams that clubs have already established.