Glazers ready to sell Man Utd for £3.75 billion, Chelsea failed in £50 million bid for Romeo Lavia

The Glazers could be prepared to sell Manchester United as the Mail reveal that the family have slapped a £3.75-billion price tag on the Premier League club. The report state that this is the figure that would be enough to sell the Manchester club and it looks into potential buyers. Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe, is a Manchester United supporter and recently attempted to buy Chelsea before Todd Boehly and his consortium completed the takeover. However, the Mail reveal that Dubai could follow in the footsteps of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia and buy a Premier League club.

Paper Round’s view: Manchester United supporters are waiting for the day when the Glazers sell up. The fans have continued to protest the club's ownership over the past few years and this has especially ramped up recently since the club dropped out of the Champions League positions. We have seen Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia buy Manchester City and Newcastle United respectively so it would not be a surprise if Dubai did attempt to add Manchester United to its portfolio. Whoever ends up buying Manchester United will have to pay a huge amount of money.

The Evening Standard reveal that Chelsea attempted to sign Romeo Lavia from Southampton on Deadline Day. The 18-year-old only joined the Saints from Manchester City earlier this summer on July 6. However, Chelsea launched a Deadline Day bid worth a whopping £50 million for the Southampton midfielder. The south coast club rejected the offer as they did not have time to find a replacement for Lavia. Chelsea eventually signed Denis Zakaria on loan from Juventus but are expected to reignite their hunt for a new central midfielder in January.

Paper Round’s view: Chelsea’s new owners are happily ready to splash their cash. The report states that the owners attended Southampton’s win over Chelsea last week and saw Lavia’s first Premier League goal. This performance must have convinced them to try and sign the 18-year-old. It’s a strange recruitment policy and it’s surprising to read that the club owners have such an influence on the transfers. Surely there should be a proper recruitment team in place. Launching a £50 million bid for a teenager – who has just joined Southampton earlier this summer – is a very, very odd behaviour.

Wolves are planning to sign former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa on a free transfer. The Premier League club have been assessing their options after new signing Sasa Kalajdzic suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on his debut against Southampton on Saturday. The transfer window is shut, but Costa is available as a free agent after Atletico Mineiro terminated his contract back in January. Wolves are bringing the 33-year-old in for a medical on Tuesday and should complete the signing before next weekend.

Paper Round’s view: Costa was highly entertaining during his three-year spell in the Premier League at Chelsea. The Brazilian-born striker was well-known for his fiery temper but was a dominant striker who could give defenders nightmares. Costa has struggled since he left London back in 2018 and it’s difficult to know whether he would be a worthwhile signing for Wolves. The Spain international has not played professional football since December 2021. He’s going to be lacking match fitness and will take a while to get up to speed. Wolves must be desperate for another striker in their squad.

Premier League officials have demanded an “urgent review” into the contentious VAR decisions at Chelsea and Newcastle United on Saturday. Refereeing body PGMOL will be forced to explain the reasoning behind two decisions which were labelled as “abysmal”. West Ham had a last-minute equaliser chalked off at Chelsea, while a Newcastle goal was disallowed at St James’ Park. Premier League bosses are taking “unprecedented” steps to ensure this does not happen again in future.

Paper Round’s view: VAR was a major talking point on the weekend. It dominated the headlines across multiple matches and that should not be happening. The VAR system is there to help the referees, but the Premier League seems to be struggling with it. No other top league has constant issues or problems like England’s top flight. The majority of the problems come down the human interpretation of the rules so maybe the Premier League just needs a higher quality of officiating and refereeing.