BBC
Liverpool have told Timo Werner’s representatives they need more time to decide on whether to make a formal offer for the 24-year-old RB Leipzig forward as they wait to see what impact coronavirus will have on the summer transfer window. (Guardian)
Inter Milan are preparing a part exchange with Leipzig for Germany international Werner, with 24-year-old Austrian midfielder Valentino Lazaro, who is on loan at Newcastle United, part of the deal. (Tuttosport - in Italian)
Real Madrid are preparing to make an offer to Manchester United for France midfielder Paul Pogba, 27. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)
Real are also looking at a deal to sign Rennes' 17-year-old France Under-21 midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, who United are also interested in.. (AS - in Spanish)
Sao Paulo midfielder Igor Gomez is also a target for Real Madrid, but the 21-year-old’s club has not received an official approach for the player. Barcelona, Sevilla and Ajax are also keen on the Brazilian. (Globo Esporte, via Goal)
Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey, 26, has made it clear he would like to go to Arsenal and is hoping a deal can be struck between the clubs, with 28-year-old France forward Alexandre Lacazette moving as part of the deal. (Telegraph)
Former Aston Villa forward Nii Odartey Lamptey has warned Partey against a move to England. The Ghana international is also wanted by Juventus and Inter Milan.(Standard)
Turkish side Fenerbahce are working on a deal to sign Arsenal and Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil, 31, before the end of his current deal next year. (Sun)
Brazil striker Neymar remains keen to leave Paris St-Germain and rejoin Barcelona, with the 28-year-old believed to be happy to take a 50% wage cut to move back to Spain. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)
Newcastle will have to pay Tottenham Hotspur £12.5m if they want to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as manager this month - but they can sign the Argentine for nothing after 31 May. (ESPN)
Former Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes believes Manchester City’s 24-year-old Germany forward Leroy Sane, who is linked with a move to the Bundesliga side, is overrated and "not worth £100m". (Sport Bild, via Independent)
Arsenal and Chelsea are set to battle it out to sign Feyenoord’s £23m-rated Turkish midfielder Orkun Kokcu, 19. (Sun)
Leicester City have been linked with an move for 20-year-old German defender Ismail Jakobs, but Cologne want £9m from the Foxes to secure the deal. (Todo Fichajes, via Leicester Mercury)
Burnley's English goalkeeper Joe Hart could reignite his career at Leeds United and the 33-year-old is far stronger mentally after a downturn in his career, says former Manchester City team-mate Danny Mills. (Football Insider)
Manchester United are close to finalising a deal for Sunderland's English striker Joe Hugill, holding off competition from Arsenal and Tottenham for the player, who does not turn 17 until October. (Manchester Evening News)
Chelsea forward Pedro says he has “many offers” but the 32-year-old Spanish forward is waiting to speak to the Stamford Bridge club about his future beyond the end of the season. (Standard)
Ajax manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed the club have an agreement with Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana that the 24-year-old will be allowed leave the club this summer amid interest from Chelsea and Barcelona.(Mail)
Mirror
Ravel Morrison details the mistakes he's made throughout his career
Ravel Morrison started his career at Old Trafford but failed to fulfil his potential with Man Utd
By David Anderson
Ravel Morrison admits he would change many things if he could live his life again.
Morrison is on loan at Championship strugglers Middlesbrough even though Wayne Rooney claims he was better “by a country mile” than Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard when they were kids together at Manchester United.
Rio Ferdinand also claims Morrison never fulfilled his huge potential after making his United debut at just 17, saying he should have been “a £100million player”.
Morrison’s moves to West Ham and Lazio never worked out and the forward admits he made mistakes.
“If I could sit back through and live my life again, there would be a lot of things that I would change,” he admitted.
“Some days, I know it’s poor, but I grew up at United, I was there from the Under-9s, and I would skip training some days.
“It’s hard to get me off the training field now, but if it was now and I took it back to those days, I think it would have been a lot better.”
Morrison, 27, who was born in Wythenshawe, claims he was flattered and at the same time upset by Rooney’s comments.
He insists he can yet go further in his career, even though he has only managed 12 minutes of Premier League action since August 2014.
“They are amazing comments, especially being the player that Wayne is,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s high comments from a high player.
“It makes you a bit upset because I could have gone a bit further. I’m hoping still to go further.
“With the likes of Pogba and Jesse, I think they are both great players and I think we had a great team around our years.”
Morrison’s attitude has been repeatedly questioned and Sam Allardyce, who managed him at West Ham, claimed he was “the biggest waste of talent” he worked with.
“I wouldn’t say I struggled with pressure,” said Morrison. “I didn’t really feel pressure.
“There were maybe some things in my life when I was young that I would look at now and definitely would not do, or go down a different path.
“But in terms of pressure, no. Obviously going to Manchester United, in that environment with world-class players, it was enjoyable.”
Morrison feels his reputation has been unfairly tarnished because he had a number of run-ins with the law when he was young.
He claims he is a reformed character and just wants a run of games to prove himself.
“That was like 10 years ago now, but it’s always going to stick around me,” he said.
“It’s just something I have to live with. They are my own mistakes.
“I have to hold my hands up and get on with it. I would prefer not to, as it was happening when I was 17, 16 and now I’m 27, but it’s just one of those things.
“I’ve not shown my best ability yet. I showed some of what I can do at West Ham and QPR in the second half of the season when we got promoted with QPR.
“Other than that, I’ve not really had a run of games for seasons.”
C&H
Report: Sky/BT to oppose “no relegation” rebels
Sky and BT look all set to resist any proposals which scrap relegation from any Premier League Restart plan.
As anticipated by most neutrals such a plan would rob the broadcasters of any serious drama and effectively reduce the remainder of the season to a series of friendly matches.
There are those among the PL chairman who believe that TV is so hungry for the return of football that they would accept any proposal including ‘no relegation, but both broadcasters are reported to want the scrap to stay in the PL included in any plans.
And that will cause another huge battle between the top and bottom clubs when the matter comes back on the agenda at a meeting of chairmen at their next meeting.
The bottom six are certain to vote against the neutral ground proposal with Sheffield United also likely to go that way given they are in with a real chance of Euro League qualification and will need as many home games as they can get.
There is no guarantee for the top clubs either that Southampton and Newcastle – on 34 and 35 points won’t join the against lobby.
Such a move by the dissenting clubs would deny the Premier League a majority in favour of starting up again and that assumes the players don’t vote against a return at a meeting of their own.
Both major broadcasters are in favour of the top flight resuming with the bottom three sides still going down to the Championship at the end of the campaign.
According to the Telegraph, the TV firms believe ‘Project Restart’ will be a difficult sell without the drama of a relegation battle.
Premier League sides are still negotiating over the ins and outs of finishing the season.
As it stands, competitive fixtures have been earmarked for a return in June with full training to begin again in May.
The Premier League have ordered 40,000 testing kits costing about £4million claim the Sun this morning as they get serious about testing. The tabloid claims one major club has already started sending out kits to their players’ homes to test themselves.
All Premier League clubs are set to resume training by next Monday on an individual basis although some including West Ham have already opened their doors to players with restrictions in place.
The Premier League hope that full squad training will start on May 25th but football authorities are waiting for government approval to ease some lockdown measures on Sunday.
The only way that the 92 remaining Prem games can take place is to complete mass testing funded privately by Premier League clubs.
The Premier League hope to restart a seven-week period of football to finish the season on 12th June but must be finished by 2nd August to meet UEFA guidelines meaning the remaining fixtures must start before 19th June to have any chance.
Yesterday the German football league reported that ten tests had proved positive in their testing of all players and staff back in training.
HITC
Italian side preparing for West Ham target's departure; 17-cap star exit-bound
Danny Owen
David Moyes's West Ham United reportedly want to sign Erick Pulgar from Serie A giants Fiorentina this summer - is he heading to the London Stadium?
West Ham United are looking to sign Chile international Erick Pulgar from Fiorentina this summer, with France Football reporting that the Serie A giants are already preparing for life without the all-action midfielder.
As you might expect from a man who honed his talents in Antofagusta, this 6ft 2ins enforcer balances technique and tenacity in almost perfect equilibrium.
Pulgar has been a shining light in an often gloomy campaign for Fiorentina. With four goals and three assists from central midfield, the 17-time international will leave a sizeable hole at the heart of Beppe Iachini’s engine room if, or when, he packs his bags and heads for the exit.
France Football claim that La Viola have identified Strasbourg’s Jean-Ricner Bellegarde as the man to fill a Pulgar-shaped void with the fiery South American unlikely to be plying his trade in Florence when 2020/21 kicks off.
An aggressive, box-to-box ball-winner who has accumulated seven yellow cards in the Serie A campaign, it should be no surprise to anyone that Pulgar learned his trade under Sinisa Mihaljovic at Bologna.
“It’s never easy to take penalties, but Pulgar has taken five out of five in the last five games. He certainly takes them better than me!,” Mihaljovic, the former Roma, Lazio and Inter star told Gazzetta dello Sport of a man who is happily at home from 12 yards.
And, on paper at least, Pulgar looks the perfect fit for a West Ham midfield which has been rather overly reliant on the legs of Declan Rice over the last 18 months or so.
Captain fantastic Mark Noble may be West Ham’s Mr Evergreen but he cannot go on forever. Pulgar looks ready to step into the breach.
