Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool battle for £38m Aurelien Tchouameni - Paper Round

Aurelien Tchouameni is interesting three of the biggest clubs in the Premier League, as the 21-year-old Monaco midfielder is gearing up to depart in the summer. The player would cost £38 million, and both Liverpool and Chelsea want to refresh their midfield by bringing the player to England. Manchester United also hold an interest in signing the youngster.

Paper Round’s view: Monaco have done well over recent years with their sales, as perhaps only Kylian Mbappe has been a headline success after moving on. However Tchouameni has plenty of talent, and both United and Liverpool in particular could do with adding talent to their midfield. United expect Paul Pogba to move and Liverpool have an ageing set of midfielders.

The Mirror reports that Chelsea’s 28-year-old German central defender has left his future open to speculation with a year left on his contract, saying: "There was a talk between Marina [Granovskaia] and my agent. We have the situation where we are at now and I have nothing to do with all the speculation. This is not in my mind. I’m focused on what I’m doing because this is why I wake up every morning.”

Paper Round’s view: It appears that Rudiger not unreasonably fancies earning £400,000 a week elsewhere for his next contract, but given he also seems content at Chelsea for the rest of the season he is hardly going to alienate himself from his current club’s fans. Chelsea may yet persuade him to stay but as he was not first choice until recently this situation was tough to avoid.

The Daily Mail reports that Roma boss Jose Mourinho has an interest in two of his former players at Manchester United. The first is right-back Diogo Dalot, 22, who could cost around three million euros to take on loan for the rest of the season, while there is also interest in 27-year-old central defender Victor Lindelof, who is down the pecking order when everyone is fit.

Paper Round’s view: Lindelof has shown in the absence of Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane that he is simply not good enough to be worth any further time at Old Trafford. Dalot has more potential but Mourinho had little time for the Portuguese when he was in charge. Of course the budgetary constraints at Roma are different but neither players appears especially impressive.

Inter Milan midfielder Christian Eriksen could leave Inter Milan to be welcomed back to the Premier League, according to The Telegraph. The 29-year-old Danish playmaker has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted which rules him out of taking part in professional Italian sport, but the Premier League operates on a case-by-case basis for players.

Paper Round’s view: Given that Daley Blind has a similar medical situation and has so far been able to play for Ajax without any apparent concern, there is a prima facie case for the former Spurs man to be given a chance to return to his job. Of course if that is not safe then it should not be up to him to make a move, given the bind it would place potential employers in.