Borussia Dortmund ready to sell Jude Bellingham to Manchester City for just £83m - Paper Round

Jude Bellingham has been reportedly valued by Borussia Dortmund at £130 million, but The Sun claims that he could be bought for much less. Manchester City remain the favourites alongside Liverpool, while Chelsea and Manchester United need Champions League football to stand a chance. However the paper says that if a club were to pay £83m up front, that would clinch the deal.

Paper Round’s view: After losing Haaland for around £60m in the summer, and selling Manuel Akanji to Man City as well, it is worth asking just how much Dortmund need the cash. £83m up front is something that very few clubs would be able to manage with out some kind of third party stepping in to finance the deal. But for Bellingham, taking on that debt could well be a bargain.

Liverpool are interested in signing Jude Bellingham, but will likely wait until the end of the season to make their move. According to The Mirror, Jurgen Klopp is weighing up cancelling Arthur Melo’s loan deal in January, but with Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on course to become free agents at the end of the season, they may attempt to sign Sheffield United’s Sander Berge, with the 24-year-old Norwegian attracting interest already this summer.

Paper Round’s view: Chelsea were also reportedly keen on the player in the summer, so it seems that Berge will be on his way from the Championship soon. Liverpool are going to have to reshape their midfield options, with too many of their players close to or older than 30. Arthur will have to show in the next few weeks why he deserves more minutes on the pitch.

The Mail somewhat alarmingly reports that David de Gea could leave Manchester United on a free at the end of the season, when his contract is, in theory, up. The paper claims that United are yet to decide whether to offer him a new deal, and there is also the fact that they can activate a 12-month extension to keep him on for another season. Dean Henderson’s outspoken criticism of the club could see Jordan Pickford become the Spaniard’s replacement.

Paper Round’s view: De Gea made a dreadful error against Brentford but mainly he has improved his reliability vastly after a season where he was vulnerable to most shots. The problem with him is not his shotstopping, though, it is that he lacks the ability to play out from the back. That can be mitigated by better players around him, but the next ‘keeper will need to have more talent with his feet.

Spanish newspaper Marca compares the two biggest clubs in Spain: Real Madrid and Barcelona. While Barcelona have struggled to cut costs after years of awarding huge contracts to players such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Gerard Pique, Real were willing to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos leave. That has left Real sitting on 450m euros.

Paper Round’s view: If those figures are correct then that leaves Real well placed to operate in future. When the best talent comes up - as it almost did with Kylian Mbappe in the summer- they would be able to potentially outspend even Manchester City in the transfer market. Florentino Perez’s time in charge of Real has been the most successful of any club in the world.