Monday

Liverpool will be faced with contrasting offers for their star striker Luis Suarez as Arsenal and Real Madrid hover.


Arsenal to raise Suarez bid to £35m: The Guardian takes the lead on this one, saying Arsenal will up their bid to £35m forLiverpool's wantaway star Luis Suarez. The move for Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain is on hold, the paper adds, while the club explores the Suarez deal. With Suarez so keen to move on, Liverpool’s resolve to sell their star player on their own terms will be sorely tested.
Paper Round’s view: Is Arsenal’s interest real? You have to think so – and the story comes from a correspondent on the club’s tour of Indonesia. Does it make sense? It seems odd on some level that Arsene Wenger will effectively double the club’s record transfer fee to land a player with a record of controversy – but then again, perhaps Suarez could be the Gunners’ Eric Cantona.
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Real Madrid will try to nab Suarez for £25m: The Daily Star suggest that Real Madrid will try to pull off the Suarez deal on the cheap, creating a dilemma for Liverpool, who know that the Spanish capital is the Uruguayan’s preferred destination.
Paper Round’s view: Liverpool cannot do business with Real at £25m – no matter how much Suarez kicks and screams. But if Real up their offer a bit but stay well below the Arsenal offer, it will leave Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool in a most unwelcome position – and mean that the saga will run and run, and potentially destabilise the club in the first few games of the season.
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Manchester City to tie up Negredo, Jovetic deals: Manchester City will spend more than £40m to land two forwards, say The Sun, with both Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic of Fiorentina arriving at the Etihad Stadium before the end of the month.
Paper Round’s view: These are both very likely – Manuel Pellegrini confirmed City were in the market for more players after yesterday’s pre-season friendly, and up front is where they are short, having shipped out Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez to Italy this year. The bigger question is whether in Negredo and Jovetic City are settling for second best – the likes of Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao have gone elsewhere, and there has already been disappointment that playmaker Isco chose Real Madrid at City’s expense.
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Tottenham weigh up opening bid for Benteke: While there’s little doubt Spurs will move forChristian Benteke, report the Daily Mirror, there is a question mark over what they will offer. Aston Villa are holding out for £25m, and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is less than impressed by the valuation. An opening bid is expected some way short of that figure this week.
Paper Round’s view: If you’re a Tottenham fan, be nervous. While the North Londoners are rarely shy of splashing out on a midfielder, they have let one forward after another slip through their grip in recent times. There was some disappointment and gnashing of teeth when David Villa chose Atletico Madrid rather than White Hart Lane – could a ponderous and cautious series of offers for Benteke cost Spurs if another serious suitor emerges for the much-coveted 22-year-old?
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Liverpool target Eriksen given green light for England move: Ajax manager Frank De Boer has said he won’t stand in the way of Danish prodigy Christian Eriksen going to the Premier League. “It is up to Christian what he wants,” De Boer is quoted as saying in the Daily Mail, “If he feels good going to Liverpool, then it is up to him. I would want nothing more than having him with us for a few more years. But we realise the interest in this kind of player is huge.”
Paper Round’s view: Central midfielder Eriksen has been tipped for a big move for a while now. Can Liverpool really land him? Their lack of Champions League football surely cost them in the move for Henrikh Mkhitaryan earlier this summer, and this is a similarly ambitious move. Eriksen would interest several clubs on the continent – but perhaps the most galling scenario for Reds fans would be if Manchester United, having missed out on Thiago, turned to him to strengthen their midfield…

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