Arsenal confident of winning transfer race to sign Declan Rice, Newcastle want Chelsea trio – Paper Round

Arsenal want Rice

Paper Round’s view: Who fed this to The Times? Rice’s agent? Quite possibly, and you can’t help but think it’s a play to get Chelsea to fork out more than £80m on a (former) player they have been linked with for years. Your move, Todd.

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Newcastle after Chelsea trio

Paper Round’s view: Something has to give at Chelsea, more specifically someone, and while there are fears for their academy players (see below), the arrival of Mykhailo Mudryk surely means a winger is on their way out – most likely Ziyech. It is, however, no shock to read Potter is unwilling to sell a midfielder, especially with their current injury crisis. Newcastle may have to look elsewhere in that department.

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Fears for Chelsea’s academy

Paper Round’s view: This is hardly a surprise, but you have to feel for Chelsea’s academy players, particularly as they find themselves at a club that produced Mason Mount and Reece James (and Rice) in recent years. Nevertheless, there is hope, with Graham Potter giving some youngsters a run-out recently, although that is arguably down to injuries, so let’s see what happens when he has a fully-fit squad to play with.

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Klopp going nowhere

Paper Round’s view: Klopp is entering uncharted territory given the length of his stay at Liverpool, but as we have seen the (current, for now) owners have already given him time after a poor season. The last time, they bounced back and won two out of four trophies in a quadruple pursuit that lasted until the penultimate game of their season. He’s got credit in the bank, he’ll also hope there’s some money to spend too on reinforcements this summer.