Premier League giants Manchester United and Liverpool battle over Ismaila Sarr - Paper Round

Manchester United are ready to give up on their pursuit of Jadon Sancho and have identified a player in the Championship as an alternative for the England international. Borussia Dortmund's asking price of over £100 million has proved to be a stumbling block for the Red Devils in the hunt for their "number-one target" and United are now willing to walk away from negotiations. The Independent reveal that Watford's Ismaila Sarr is one of the alternative options for Sancho. The report states that the Hornets would demand at least £30 million for the 22-year-old, despite their relegation from the Premier League in July.

Paper Round's view: The chase for Sancho seems to be over... for now. We can expect the Premier League club to return for the 20-year-old winger next summer but for now, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs to add some attacking depth to his squad for the current season. Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood are all exciting, young and dangerous attackers but beyond that trio, there aren't too many other options in the United squad. Daniel James and Jesse Lingard don't look good enough to compete for a starting role and the club need players who have star quality. Adding a player like Sarr ticks that box and he's still only 22 years old so has plenty of time to progress.

Ismaila Sarr seems to be a man in demand. The Mail report that Manchester United's long-term rivals Liverpool are also interested in exploring the possibility of signing the Senegalese international from Watford. The Reds are considering bringing Sarr to Anfield in order to improve their squad depth. Liverpool are looking to strengthen their attacking options, but accept that Sarr would not usurp Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane as a starter. The Mail state that Watford are prepared to demand over £36 million for the winger, who joined the Hornets in the summer of 2019 for £30 million.

Paper Round's view: This could get very interesting. Manchester United and Liverpool could be going head-to-head over the signature of Sarr if both reports from the Independent and the Mail are correct. There have been rumours that the Merseyside club were sniffing around Sarr since his match-winning performance against the Reds in their first defeat of the 2019-20 Premier League season back in February. However, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has repeated stated that the club are strapped for cash this summer and it looks like they are about to spend £25 million on bringing in Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich. Can the defending Premier League champions afford to spend close to £40 million on a squad player? Maybe if Xherdan Shaqiri or Divock Origi are sold. If not, Sarr might be heading to Old Trafford instead.

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly failed in an initial approach to sign Southampton striker Danny Ings, according to a report from the Guardian. Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is "desperate" to improve his attacking options and bring in a serious back-up striker to provide competition for first-choice forward Harry Kane. Southampton rejected the proposal from Tottenham and are hoping to convince Ings to commit to a new contract that would extend his stay on the south coast. Spurs have also explored the possibility of signing Bas Dost from Eintracht Frankfurt on loan and have been offered the opportunity to sign Watford striker Troy Deeney.

Paper Round's view: Spurs trying to sign Ings was pretty ambitious. The England international scored 22 goals in the Premier League last season and proved himself as the most important player for his club. Southampton paid around £20 million to Liverpool for the 28-year-old, so imagine how much the Saints would demand for their talisman after his sensational return in the last campaign. The transfer wouldn't make sense for Ings either. The Southampton striker has forced his way into the England squad ahead of next summer's European Championship and moving to Tottenham would only see his club role reduced to deputising for Kane. Spurs should be looking elsewhere for a back-up striker - or maybe even exploring the possibility of using the inbound Gareth Bale in this role if Kane misses any matches.

Arsenal are planning to sign not one, but two new goalkeepers following the departure of Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa. According to the Telegraph, the Gunners are close to signing Icelandic keeper Runar Alex Runarsson from French club Dijon for a fee of around £1.5 million. However, the report also reveals that the north London club have "stepped up" in their pursuit of Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, with Arsenal seeing a £10-million bid rejected. The Championship side are adamant that Raya will not be leaving the club this summer but would be willing to sell their stopper to the Gunners if they sent him back on loan to Brentford for the remainder of their current campaign.

Paper Round's view: Why sign one goalkeeper when you can sign two? The transfer for Runarsson made complete sense and seemed pretty efficient. Martinez left for around £20 million in pursuit of first-team football and the Gunners needed to raise transfer funds. Runarsson is set to join as back-up to Bernd Leno for just £1.5 million, so why are Arsenal spending north of £10 million on another back-up keeper? There are clearly other areas of the squad that need improvement, mainly the midfield. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta seems pretty keen to bring Lyon's Houssem Aouar and/or Atletico Madrid's Thomas Partey to the Emirates this summer - so it makes sense to focus on those deals before signing another goalkeeper.