Haaland, Pogba and Paqueta: PSG’s plans to replace Mbappe

PSG’s £150m plans

Paris Saint-Germain are planning to spend big to deal with the loss of Kylian Mbappe, reports Spanish newspaper Marca. Mbappe is expected to join Real Madrid on a free, and they will spend between 75 million and 90 million euros to secure Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. They will spend another 80m on Lucas Paqueta of Lyon, and perhaps add Paul Pogba on a free.

Paper Round’s view: Pogba appears to have missed his chance to move to Real but a homecoming to PSG would make commercial and footballing sense. A happier player would produce his best football, Leonard would hope, but Haaland would almost certainly be a huge success, and Paqueta has impressed. At just 24, he has time to improve as well.

Spurs target Vidal

The Sun reports that Tottenham manager Antonio Conte is set to go back to former club Inter Milan for Arturo Vidal. The 34-year-old midfielder is out of contract in the summer and would be available for nothing as a result, and the Italian wants to bring the Chilean international to North London. They also face competition from Galatasaray and Marseille.

Paper Round’s view: Vidal is a hugely experienced player and after concerns about his knees when he was linked to Manchester United, he has shown across Europe that he is a resilient and consistent performer. He might not reach the heights that he once did, but midfield is clearly an area that concerns Conte and Vidal could be a cheap, short-term solution.

Chelsea reconsider Rudiger contract

Able to command wages of close to £400,000 a week and with interest from Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester United, Antonio Rudiger could yet stay at Chelsea. The Mirror reports that the 28-year-old could now be given fresh terms closer to £200,000 a week to stay at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea worried about losing too many defenders this summer.

Paper Round’s view: Given Thiago Silva, Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen could all move on in the summer, and with Rudiger probably the best out of all of those players, coughing up to keep the German international at the club makes sense. If he is content to earn half of the £400k he could command elsewhere, that suggests he would like to stay if possible.

Martial turned down Juventus and Barcelona

Anthony Martial has revealed that he turned down a January move to both Juventus and Barcelona. The 26-year-old also confirmed that he took a paycut on his £240,000-a-week wages at Manchester United to go on loan to Seville, where he will play on loan until the end of the season. The Daily Mail reports that he left to get more game time ahead of the Qatar World Cup.

Paper Round’s view: If Martial wants to play for France this summer then he needs regular first team football. At Barcelona he would be up against serious competition for the front three positions, and life in Italy might not have suited his approach to the game. It is noble in some ways to take a reduction in pay, but it is also simply pragmatic to go where it is easiest to play every week.