Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea battle for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen – Paper Round

United and Chelsea to battle for Osimhen

The paper writes: “They would be prepared to break the British transfer record of £107m they have just set for Enzo Fernandez in order to land Osimhen.

“The striker, 24, is set to be one of the most in-demand players in the next transfer window.

“Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are among the clubs also in the hunt for Osimhen, whose 14 goals in 16 Serie A games have sent Napoli to the top of the table.

“The Italian giants don’t want to lose their star man but are confident of generating a high-stakes auction for a player who will have two years left on his contract in the summer.”

Liverpool face tough chase for Thuram

Marcus Thuram looks set to be in demand this summer as his contract is soon up, and the Mirror believes that there is a host of interest in the 25-year-old French international striker already.

The Borussia Monchengladbach forward attracted interest from Chelsea and Manchester United this January but they ultimately went elsewhere, and there are still plenty of clubs on the hunt.

“The Frenchman is increasingly likely to become a free agent in the summer and will be available to move on to whoever he would like granted he has more than one “option. At this rate, it seems like that will be the case, with the Reds, Tottenham, Arsenal, Newcastle and Atletico Madrid also keen on the attacker.”

Bids for United set this week

The Mail believes that Manchester United will have official bids come in this week after the Glazers put the club up for sale.

After almost two decades at the helm, a change in ownership looks likely, and the papers estimates the potential cost for prospective buyers.

“The Glazers finally put a ‘For Sale’ sign up outside Old Trafford in November when they said they wanted to ‘explore strategic alternatives’ for United ‘including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions’.

“United’s share price has shot up on bid hopes since the announcement with the club now valued at £3billion ($3.67billion) on the New York stock market.

“A buyer would normally expect to pay around 25 percent more than that for full ownership and control, implying a £4billion price tag.”

Forest almost missed out on Navas

Nottingham Forest almost missed out on PSG’s experienced Keylor Navas with the French club regularly changing their mind on whether they would let him go mid-season.

The newspaper states: “Crucially, Navas was on board and one of the first things he said to Forest was along the lines of “you have a cup semi-final against Manchester United and I want to play”.

“His agent, Jorge Mendes, has also completed many deals before with Marinakis at his other club, Olympiacos, so that relationship was already there.

“The proposed loan deal was complicated, though, and took weeks to sort out. PSG also changed their mind many times on whether to let Navas go.”