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BBC
Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are interested in Tottenham striker Harry Kane, 22, and have asked to be kept informed of his plans. (London Evening Standard)
Manchester City are set to sign Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, 25, with the German club refusing to deny a deal is imminent. (Bild, via Manchester Evening News)
Chelsea are ready to offer 25-year-old Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann a lucrative deal to join the club. (Mirror)
Should Jose Mourinho become Manchester United manager, he will sign 34-year-old Paris St-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Benfica midfielder Renato Sanches, 18, and Everton defender John Stones, 21. (Sun)
Liverpool are the target of a £700m takeover move by an anonymous member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. (Star)
Tottenham have dropped their interest in 19-year-old Fulham striker Moussa Dembele, who was invited by Chelsea to watch their home game against Manchester City at the weekend. (Mail)
Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, 27, has been urged to join Bayern Munich - by his Chile team-mate Arturo Vidal. (Metro)
The Gunners have postponed contract talks with Sanchez and midfielder Mesut Ozil, 27, until the end of the season. Both players need convincing the team will be able to compete for honours. (Times)
Arsenal's players and staff are "baffled" by some of manager Arsene Wenger's decisions, including giving the squad the day off after their draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday with just a four-day turnaround before they play West Brom. (Telegraph)
Chelsea will move for Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster, 28, should Belgium international Thibaut Courtois, 23, leave. (Mirror)
Leicester City's N'Golo Kante, 25, could be an option for Serie A champions Juventus after midfielder Claudio Marchisio injured a knee. (Gazzetta dello Sport)
Liverpool and Arsenal have an "80% chance" of signing Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka, 23. (Bild - in German)
Manchester United have told Michael Carrick, 34, they want to give him a new deal, but the midfielder will have to wait until the position of the club's manager is clarified. (Sun)
Spain midfielder Juan Mata, 27, also faces an uncertain future at United - whoever the manager will be next season. (Manchester Evening News)
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta, 34, could join north London rivals Tottenham next season - as part of Mauricio Pochettino's coaching staff.(Star)
Former England manager Fabio Capello has urged successor Roy Hodgson to pick Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, 30, for Euro 2016. (Express)
Leeds United manager Steve Evans says he continues to have the support of club owner Massimo Cellino, despite the Italian appearing to suggest otherwise in a recent interview.(Yorkshire Evening Post)
Swansea could turn to Paul Clement, the former Derby County manager and Real Madrid assistant, in their search for a new boss.(South Wales Evening Post)
Former Argentina international Juan Sebastian Veron, 41, says he should never have left Manchester United for Premier League rivals Chelsea in 2004.(Manchester Evening News)
Arsenal will not host the Emirates Cup this summer, a tournament the hosts have won four times since its introduction in 2007, due to Euro 2016.(Arsenal.com)
Former England international David Beckham says the FA Cup semi-finals should not be played at Wembley as the stadium should be saved for the competition's showpiece.(Sky Sports)
Referee Jon Moss had drinks thrown at him by Leicester fans as he left the King Power Stadium pitch after the Foxes' 2-2 draw with West Ham at the weekend. (Times)
Manchester United appeared to have offered all fans free coach travel to Wembley on Saturday - but it soon emerged only a fraction of those would get a spot. (Irish Independent)
And finally...
Crystal Palace accidentally named Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema in their matchday squad at Arsenal on Sunday - the Frenchman's name appearing on their team news graphic. (Surrey Mirror)
FA officials will be allowed to take their partners to Euro 2016 while the players will only be allowed to see their loved ones briefly after games. (Mail)
A match was abandoned in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division One on Saturday after five players were sent off from one team. (Gloucestershire Echo)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Nick Miller
These are exciting times in the English Premier League. Sure, Leicester are about to make everyone else look like complete galoots and shuffling, hand-wringing incompetents by winning the title, while in second place Tottenham are playing thrilling attacking football with a collection of youngsters that could be around for a generation, but there’s something even more exciting on the horizon. Yes folks, we are but weeks away from the opening of the transfer window, and boy is everybody getting giddy about it already.
And why wouldn’t you, with absolutely piping hot rumours like Antoine Griezmann heading from Atlético Madrid to … Chelsea? The Stamford Bridge squad is set to undergo a thorough wash and brush up in the summer, with Antonio Conte arriving to run the rule over things like a stern sergeant major who shouts at everyone but who you still can’t quite take seriously because you’re constantly thinking ‘Is that a wig? Come on, it’s a wig, isn’t it? It must be a wig. You’ve at least had plugs, because if you look at this photo from a few years ag … what’s that? The bench? Yes boss. Sorry boss.’ Griezmann has bagged an impressive 29 goals this season as Atléti slightly implausibly find themselves hot on Barcelona’s heels, and you’d imagine will rip it up at the Euros this summer, so Conte seemingly reckons Griezmann will be just the chap for him. The Mirror also reports that room on the wage bill will be made by cutting Radamel Falcao, Alexandre Pato and Loïc Rémy loose. Meanwhile, recent noises made by Thibaut Courtois suggesting he might wish to do one in the summer have given Chelsea cause to run the rule over Southampton’s wall of human flesh Fraser Forster. Chelsea could also be set to nab Fulham youngster Moussa Dembélé, who was apparently at their game against Manchester City at the weekend, an invite that probably seemed like a good idea at the time but might not have done much to persuade the lad that Stamford Bridge was the place for him, while Valencia defender Aymen Abdennour is also said to be causing heads to turn. Finally for Chelsea, Eden Hazard supposedly wants to stay, which given his form this season presumably caused those at the Bridge to smile thinly and say ‘Oh, great, yeah, that’s … great.’
Across London, life is pretty peachy for Tottenham at the moment, but like the great big spoilers of fun and ‘older siblings who don’t want the toy, they just don’t want you to have the toy’ that they are, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are both thinking of ruining things by swooping for Harry Kane. They have at least both asked to be kept informed of the Spurs striker’s movements, a wording that could actually lead to some unfortunate misunderstandings and some rather unpleasant charts delivered to Spain and Germany. Speaking of the big boys ruining things, Juventus have supposedly decided that N’Golo Kanté is the man for them, tabbed as the player to replace poor old Claudio Marchisio, whose knee exploded like the Hosnian System at the weekend.
There’s a storm coming, Mr Wayne. And that storm is José Mourinho, increasingly confident of getting the Manchester United job and already making plans as such. Rather depressingly he appears to have taken one look at the youthful vim, vigour and goals of Marcus Rashford and decided that he needs something else instead, that something else specifically being Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Mate, come on, eh? Other players he will bring in include Benfica tyro Renato Sanches (a good word to say in a Mancunian accent, FYI) and Everton ditherer/future of English defending John Stones. Out on their respective arses might be Michael Carrick, whose contract is up in the summer, and Juan Mata, who has already been sold by José once and he ain’t afraid to do it again. United have also been scouting at Sporting, with midfielders João Mário and William Carvalho catching their collective eye.
Elsewhere, it seems like the base of midfield is where it is at, with both Arsenal and Manchester City looking to spend big on the tackling types. Headline writers across the land will be praying the Gooners pull off their mooted move for Granit Xhaka, while they might have more of a struggle getting Ilkay Gündoğan into something pithy and amusing, but should he sign for City they’ll have a damn good try anyway. City, it says here, are also mulling over a move for Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney.
Finally, there’s a queue forming for Marseille forward Michy Batshuayi, and just behind Tottenham, Juventus and West Ham you can see Liverpool, standing on their tippy-toes and waving a wad of cash, in an effort to join the £30m scrum for the Belgian.
C&H
Worrying signs on Irons OS catering income
West Ham’s Olympic Stadium catering ‘partner’ has failed to make any profit on it’s two primary catering contracts in the UK with Wembley and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
Last week’s publication of the Olympic Stadium agreement confirmed West Ham will earn a 30% share of catering profits after the first £500,000 of profit is paid to stadium owners E20 Stadium LLP.
But American sub contractor Delaware North (Wembley) posted pre tax losses of £3.9m for it’s Wembley Stadium contract in 2015.
Turnover at the contract was down £3.9m year-on-year to £23.8m, while pre-tax loss increased to £2.3m from £279,885 in 2013, according to documents filed at Companies House.
A statement within the accounts say “We therefore continue to look for appropriate additional new business opportunities and we were delighted to be awarded a long term contract to operate the former Olympic Stadium [renamed South Park Stadium] from June 2015, which includes UK Athletics and West Ham United as key tenants,”
It’s other UK division called Delaware North Hospitality Services, which operates at Arsenal’s home ground the Emirates, and IPro Stadium, home to Derby County Football Club, saw its pre-tax loss rise from £736,182 in 2013 to £1.2m despite turnover growing to £19.1m.
The news must raise serious doubts how much profit if any can be made at the former Olympic Stadium and whether West Ham will ever see any of it in the profit share agreement.
Catering company Elior currently runs the existing contract for the Boleyn ground catering and hotel which ends in June. The company says that contract is worth almost £5m per year at present which means West Ham will be giving up significant catering income when they move to the former Olympic Stadium in August.
Telegraph
Olympic Stadium may be renamed Mahindra Stadium ahead of West Ham move
Ben Rumsby
The Olympic Stadium could be renamed the Mahindra Stadium after it emerged the venue’s owners were in advanced talks with the Indian conglomerate over its naming rights during West Ham United’s tenancy.
The London Legacy Development Corporation is close to concluding a deal worth around £6 million a year – £1m of which will go to West Ham – with the Mahindra Group, a technology giant and car maker.
An announcement is planned before West Ham say farewell to Upton Park at the end of this season, after which they will become anchor tenants of the £701m Olympic Stadium on a 99-year lease.
Although Mahindra is not a household name in Britain, it has annual sales of £11 billion and businesses spanning energy, defence and farm equipment.
This week saw it launch its new electric car in the UK.
The terms of West Ham’s tenancy of the Olympic Stadium, which were finally published last week following a long legal battle, revealed that the club are entitled to 50 per cent of the annual revenue from naming rights above the initial £4m.
A deal with Mahindra would also end the LLDC’s tortuous search for a title sponsor, which saw sports marketing giant IMG initially target a £15m-a-year backer.
Sir Martin Sorrell’s new firm ESP was then brought in and it looks to have helped get a deal over the line.
The publication of West Ham’s concession agreement provoked outrage over the taxpayer contribution to their tenancy.
Critics claimed the club had been handed “the deal of the century” by the LLDC and there were calls for the matter to be investigated by Parliament’s financial watchdog.
The contract confirmed West Ham would not only be charged just £2.5m per year in rent, but would not pay a penny towards the upkeep of the stadium, including towards pitch maintenance, goalposts and goal nets and corner flags.
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