Paper Round: Manchester City prepare £60m Alexis Sanchez bid, Chelsea target Premier League trio

It's Tuesday's Paper Round. Manchester City are preparing a £60 million bid for Alexis Sanchez whilst Chelsea are readying moves for three Premier League stars.

City prepare Sanchez bid

We start with The Telegraph, who report that Manchester City are set to bid £60m for Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez. The report says that despite Arsenal and Arsenal Wenger's insistence that Sanchez will not be sold, City will test that position with a big bid before the end of the transfer window. Sanchez is happy to stay for the final season of his contract but could push for a move if he thinks there is serious interest. 

Our view: This seems to be the biggest news of the day. City has been on Sanchez's trail for much part of the summer but Arsenal are adamant he is for sale and will instead allow him run down his contract. Wenger needs Sanchez more but the player feels the club can't guaranty him trophies. Lets see where this ends. Arsenal has been in similar situation before and were still forced to sell at the end.

Chelsea target Premier League trio

We move to The Mirror, who follow-up previous reports that Chelsea are keen on signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Virgil van Dijk and Danny Drinkwater. Whilst moves for the former two are going to be tricky the report says that the Drinkwater move could be finished by the end of the week to allow him to play against Spurs. 

Our view: This was the same news last week, on Monday and today. By now one should think Chelsea should have signed of their target following Saturday's woeful display. We know how the transfer market is, only money speaks. But the other question one should ask is are these targets achievable? Arsenal don't like selling to a rival club and this is evident in City's protracted pursue of Alexis Sanchez. For Virgil van Dijk, he would prefer a move to Liverpool but the good news is that the Saint will prefer not to sell to Liverpool at any price just to pay them back for unsettling the player. The other achievable option is Drinkwater but not without a fight from the Foxes.

Chelsea order Costa back as players stand with striker

The Mail report that Diego Costa has been ordered to return to Stamford Bridge and train with the reserves. Interestingly the report says that he might be considered for first-team action but after his quotes yesterday it seems unlikely. Meanwhile some of the senior players in the squad are concerned they be discarded by Antonio Conte as easily as Costa was.

 

Our view: Chelsea needs to settle the Costa saga quickly to let calm return to the club. Moreover they are short of players at the moment and so needs the services of Costa. Costa is bitter about how he was treated and may have made up his mind not to play for the club again. It will be in the best interest of both parties to resolve the issue sooner because they both need each other. Chelsea need to defend a title and Costa needs to play at next year's world cup.

Spurs start Sanchez talks

The Guardian, report that Spurs have started talks with Ajax over the transfer of centre-back Davinson Sanchez and are confident of signing him for an initial fee £25m. Ajax want closer to £36m but Spurs are confident of a deal being completed.

 

Our view: OK. The end of the transfer window is just a couple of weeks away and Spurs need to start making some signings. But they also need to splash out the cash than giving peanut. The market are gone too wild and they know this when they decided to sell Walker for £50m to City. Waiting to get players on the cheap will not do them good.