Juventus investigation: Cristian Romero transfer to Tottenham part of probe into Serie A club – Paper Round

Tottenham have been put under the spotlight given their £47m summer signing of Cristian Romero is part of the investigation into the fraud allegations against Juventus, the Mail reports. Romero left Juve for Atalanta for just £13.5m in the summer, and on the same day he then joined Spurs on an initial season-long loan with the option to buy. It is one of 42 transfers being looked at by Italian police following claims of false accounting at Juve.

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Barcelona have confirmed they are pursuing Manchester City’s Ferran Torres, the Mail reports. On the weekend the paper claimed Barcelona were keen to sign the Spain forward in January, and after Barca chief executive Ferran Reverter and director of football Mateu Alemany visited City last week, vice-president Rafael Yuste admitted talks are ongoing as they look to sign the 21-year-old. “Ferran is a great player and we are working with discretion,” said Yuste. “We have friends at Manchester City and there is good relationship.”

Paper Round’s view: Not often clubs are so open about it, with quotes at least. There is talk he could cost at least £40m, so where exactly is this money coming from at Barca? Best perhaps to wait and see if this goes ahead first, before wondering how on earth the debt-ridden club are still making such transfers possible.

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Despite Lionel Messi’s seventh Ballon d’Or win largely dominating proceedings on Monday night, a trio of Tuesday’s papers in the UK opted to highlight how Ralf Rangnick’s appointment at Manchester United will have a major say on Paul Pogba’s future. The Express, Star and Mirror went with Pogba and Rangnick on their back page, stating United’s new interim boss – and then consultant for two years – will have to make the French midfielder’s future one of his priorities given his contract expires in the summer.

Paper Round’s view: Bit of a stretch turning Rangnick’s arrival into Pogba, but the midfielder will be used to seeing his face on the back pages for no reason by now. This is nothing new, and it’s hard to see Rangnick’s appointment changing much – what will matter are the contract offers that come in from January. PSG? Real Madrid? Barcelona? We’ll find out soon.

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Federico Chiesa is being monitored by Chelsea and Bayern Munich, The Sun reports. The Italian attacking midfielder was linked with an £84m move to Chelsea, and while Juventus are reluctant to sell the 24-year-old – who is said to be happy in Turin – things could change if the club fail to finish in the top four of Serie A. A poor start to the campaign has Juve seventh in the table after 14 games, and they are seven points behind Atalanta in fourth.

Paper Round’s view: Juve missing out on the Champions League. It almost happened last season, but still it would send major shockwaves around Italian football if it actually occurred this time around. Napoli are doing their best to stay ahead of Inter and Milan, and with Atalanta not far behind Juve really have work to do. Fail to finish fourth and it might not just be Chiesa considering his options.

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Malang Sarr could be offered a route out of Chelsea with Inter Milan interested in the defender, The Sun reports. Sarr, 22, joined Chelsea from Nice in 2020, and though the French centre-back signed a five-year deal he then moved out on loan to Porto last season. He eventually made his Chelsea debut in September, but after three appearances under Thomas Tuchel, Sarr could move to Italy in the January transfer window.

Paper Round’s view: A hat-trick of appearances, two in the League Cup and the other in the Premier League against Brentford when Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva were both out, is perhaps not enough to convince Sarr he has a future at Chelsea. That said, Rudiger could leave on a free and Silva is well and truly in ‘veteran’ status, so there could yet be room if Tuchel believes Sarr has the potential to one-day replace them.