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Jose Mourinho was advised against bringing Alexandre Lacazette to Manchester United after the club\u2019s scouting team determined that the striker had \u201cno physical impact\u201d and is not a \u201cbig game player\u201d. This from a United source, as quoted in the Express<\/a> and Daily Star<\/a>, while the Guardian<\/a> have also run with the story. It comes the day after United signed Romelu Lukaku<\/a> from Everton<\/a>, while Lacazette moved to Arsenal last week.<\/p>\n Paper Round\u2019s view:<\/strong> The mind games have begun! And there\u2019s still a month to go before the first Premier League ball of the 2017\/18 season is kicked\u2026 That will indeed come at the Emirates as Arsenal host Leicester<\/a> on Friday August 11 \u2013 all eyes will therefore be on Lacazette, and now that United have upped the ante, the spotlight will also zero in on the Frenchman come their first \u2018big game\u2019 at Liverpool<\/a> on August 27. There\u2019ll be the small matter of seeing how he fares on a (maybe cold, maybe wet) Saturday evening in Stoke the week before\u2026<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Having snatched Lukaku from under Chelsea\u2019s noses, United are now hoping to beat the Premier League champions to the signing of Monaco<\/a>\u2019s Tiemoue Bakayoko. The Times<\/a> claim that talks between Chelsea and Bakayoko are dragging on, leading United to make a late enquiry \u2013 where they’ve indicated that they would be willing to trump the offer of \u00a335m currently on the table.<\/p>\n Tiemou\u00e9 BakayokoGetty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Paper Round\u2019s view:<\/strong> You seldom see clubs go toe-to-toe with regards to transfers, but this is shaping up to be an intriguing battle between Jose Mourinho and his former employers. United\u2019s midfield is an area that needs strengthening \u2013 stealing Bakayoko from Chelsea\u2019s grasp would enhance their starting XI and deal a blow to a title rival in the process.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Diego Costa<\/a> is reportedly willing to stay at Chelsea and fight for his place, despite being deemed surplus to requirements by Antonio Conte<\/a>. The Blues boss had advised the striker that he will not feature in his plans for next season, but now the Express<\/a> report that Costa is ready to overcome their differences, particularly as the Spaniard would be able to play for Atletico Madrid \u2013 the only move Costa desires – after their transfer ban is lifted in January.<\/p>\n Paper Round\u2019s view:<\/strong> The only concern here would be that Costa would become cup-tied for the Champions League, making any move in January unlikely. A lot can happen in a few months, even a few days, so who knows what twists this Costa tale will take before the transfer window ends. He still has a lot offer – a few key strikes and he could be back in Conte’s good books. If he’s anywhere near the pitch that is.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n …Or else he\u2019s staying. According to the Independent<\/a>, Arsenal will not consider a bid lower than \u00a390m for Alexis<\/a> Sanchez. Having just signed Lacazette, Arsene Wenger is determined to keep his big-name players at the Emirates. Sanchez is top of that list, and though it is believed Sanchez wants a move to Manchester City<\/a>, Wenger is unwilling to sell the Chilean to a title rival unless it\u2019s for a big sum.<\/p>\n Paper Round\u2019s view:<\/strong> Ah the inflation. Now that Rom\u2019s gone red for \u00a375m, Arsenal will feel that \u00a390m is a perfectly reasonable asking price for a world-class player such as Sanchez. This one\u2019s going to drag on, but with each day you get the sense that Wenger will manage to keep hold of his man \u2013 the only fear will be that Sanchez is unwilling to put his all in for the Arsenal cause come August, should he stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lacazette not for Jose Jose Mourinho was advised against bringing Alexandre Lacazette to Manchester United after the club\u2019s scouting team determined that the striker had \u201cno physical impact\u201d and is not a \u201cbig game player\u201d. This from a United source, as quoted in the Express and Daily Star, while the Guardian have also run with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":360516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[71,59,70],"class_list":["post-360515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-eurosport","tag-media","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}United aim for another Chelsea target<\/h2>\n
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\nCosta to stay and fight<\/h2>\n
\u00a390m for Sanchez…<\/h2>\n