BBC
Wales forward Gareth Bale, 28, is set to leave Real Madrid this summer, with a return to the Premier League likely. (Diario Gol)
The La Liga side are interested in Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, 25, as a replacement for Bale but have been told they would have to pay 160m euros (£142m) for the Egypt forward. (El Confidencial)
Manchester United are the favourites to sign Bayern Munich's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, 29, this summer. (ESPN)
But RB Leipzig's 22-year-old Germany forward Timo Werner has told United and Liverpool to forget abut trying to sign him this summer. (Mirror)
England are concerned about the fitness of Tottenham striker Harry Kane, 24, for this summer's World Cup after he was pictured wearing a protective boot after injuring his ankle against Bournemouth. (Sun)
Chelsea and France midfielder N'Golo Kante, 26, is one of Paris St-Germain's top summer targets. (Canal + via Goal.com)
Atletico Madrid's France forward Antoine Griezmann, 26, has started looking for houses in Catalonia in preparation for a potential transfer to Barcelona. (Marca)
But Atletico manager Diego Simeone has ignored speculation over Griezmann's future. (Goal.com)
Juventus don't expect the future of Liverpool midfielder Emre Can to be decided until the summer. The 24-year-old Germany midfielder is out of contract at Anfield in July and could join the Italian giants on a free transfer. (Liverpool Echo)
The president of Greek club PAOK Salonika invaded the pitch after his side were denied a last-minute goal on Sunday and appeared to be carrying a gun. (Sun)
Arsenal face competition from Napoli and Roma in their bid to sign 19-year-old French goalkeeper Alban Lafont from Toulouse. (L'Equipe - in French)
The Gunners are ready to loan out 18-year-old duo Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson. (Mirror)
Barcelona and Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic, 30, said the club would welcome back Paris St-Germain forward Neymar amid rumours the 26-year-old Brazil forward wants to leave the Ligue 1 side. (ESPN)
Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez will do all he can to sign on-loan Chelsea winger Kenedy, 22, on a permanent deal this summer. The Brazilian scored twice for the Magpies on Saturday. (Northern Echo)
Benitez will review Serbia striker Aleksandar Mitrovic's future at the club in May following the 23-year-old's superb goalscoring run while on loan at Championship side Fulham. (Newcastle Chronicle)
West Brom boss Alan Pardew will have talks with the club's owners on Monday to determine whether he will remain in charge. (Guardian)
Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster "feels sorry" about Pardew's plight at The Hawthorns. (Express & Star)
West Ham's owners have demanded talks with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and said they will not be bullied out of attending matches at London Stadium. (Mirror)
Hammers co-owner David Gold was left in tears after fan protests at their game against Burnley on Saturday. (Sky Sports)
West Ham captain Mark Noble is highly unlikely to face retrospective action after he clashed with a fan on the pitch. (Mail)
Monaco's Portugal midfielder Rony Lopes, 22, has said he would like to return to Manchester City in the future, having left the club in 2015. (Manchester Evening News)
Sunderland manager Chris Coleman said he "had to take a gamble" with their January signings after the club continued to struggle following their arrival at the Stadium of Light. (Sunderland Echo)
Best of Sunday's gossip
Liverpool are confident of sealing a record £40m deal for 24-year-old England and Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland. (Sunday Mirror)
Manchester United are planning to move for Juventus' Brazil left-back Alex Sandro, 27, in the summer with 28-year-old Italian defender Matteo Darmian as makeweight. (Sunday People)
Paris St-Germain are not open to selling forward Neymar, 26, to the Brazil international's former club Barcelona or their rivals Real Madrid. (Sky Sports)
AC Milan are poised to make a move for Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, 26, who is out of contract at the end of the season and has been unable to agree a new deal with the Gunners. (Sunday Express)
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, 47, says he has a 10-year plan to continue in management. Guardiola is in talks over extending his present contract, which expires in 2019. (Sunday Mirror)
Real Madrid will pursue a deal for Hajduk Split's 21-year-old Croatian goalkeeper Karlo Letica if they are unable to bring in Manchester United's David de Gea, 27, or Chelsea's 25-year-old Belgium number one Thibaut Courtois. (Marca)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Gregg Bakowski
Jürgen Klopp hasn’t won a trophy at Anfield yet but that hasn’t stopped the Liverpool manager from dreaming of a double in a calendar year. Not that it has anything to do with silverware. No, having broken the world record for signing the most expensive defender in history when he spent a cool £75m on Virgil van Dijk, the once frugal German now wants to break the record for splashing the most cash on a goalkeeper by parting with £40m for Stoke’s Jack Butland. It says here that Arsenal are keen on the 25-year-old too – what with Petr Cech approaching pension age and all – but the prospect of a loving Klopp bear-hug has convinced Butland that his future lies on Merseyside.
Over at Old Trafford José Mourinho reckons it’s time to annoy Luke Shaw again – so he’ll ask Ed Woodward to double Alex Sandro’s wages and send £70m to Juventus in order to do make Shaw fifth in Manchester United’s left-back pecking order. United will offer Matteo Darmian as a makeweight in any deal with Juve while they’ll attach some cash to Daley Blind and parade him outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in the hope that Ajax will accept the utility player in exchange for Justin Kluivert.
Word is that Neymar wants to go back to Barcelona but PSG’s Qatari overlords have ordered the club to prevent him from doing any such thing. Good luck with that one Neymar.
Hector Bellerín is going to take his cartoon-style sprinting technique and mockney accent to Turin, having decided that being a key character in Arsenal’s soap opera is too much to bear. The Gunners won’t let him escape to Juventus for anything less than £45m, though.
Because he’s clearly just as bonkers as he is a genius, Pep Guardiola has taken a good, long, hard look at his Manchester City team and come to the conclusion it lacks creativity. So Thomas Lemar will be wedged into it once Manchester City beancounters have sent around £90m to Monaco for his services.
Christian Benteke is considering trousering a load of cash in China for doing very little instead of trousering a load of cash at Crystal Palace for doing very little.
Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure’s ability to hunt the ball down like a slightly deranged possessive dog looking for its favourite toy has got scouts hot and bothered at Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. He would fit right into the Jack Wilshere-shaped hole at Arsenal should the pocket-sized Gunner decide to sign a more lucrative contract offer at Milan in the summer instead of signing up for a wage cut to stay at the Emirates.
And news of David Wagner’s Huddersfield heroics has finally reached Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga giants plan to offer their former reserve team manager the big job at Westfalenstadion, having been thoroughly bored watching Peter Stöger try to put his stamp on the team this season.
Guardian
‘West Ham will be a lost love while these owners remain in charge’
The board brought Saturday’s crowd trouble upon itself by refusing to acknowledge the stadium and team are substandard, says season-ticket holder Jim Kearns
Jim Kearns
The question to ask about West Ham is not “How have things got this bad”, but instead “How were they ever that good”? Saturday was the inevitable corollary of having a board of directors who speak with grandiloquence about the Champions League and then behave as though they are still running Birmingham City in the lower leagues.
Properly run clubs must wonder what all the fuss is about. West Ham fighting relegation from the top flight is not unusual. But that is rather the point. The quid pro quo of the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium was supposed to be a better team, not a similar one, but at a different venue.
Those who experienced Upton Park will recognise it for what it was – an imperfect, rugged, boxy bearpit that formed part of our identity. When she danced we could really love. The London Stadium is a soulless, scaffolded testament to the hubris of all involved.
In a week when some fans threatened others over a planned protest march, West Ham ignored that, arranged a tribute to the late Bobby Moore and convinced themselves that this constituted supporter engagement. With no outlet for their frustration, and a team bereft of confidence, we saw pitch invasions and ugly fan protests in Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Burnley. A mob congregated on the walkway beneath the directors and hurled abuse. Pitch invaders were at once booed, cheered and physically attacked.
I cannot condone violence, but the board has brought this upon itself by refusing to acknowledge a simple truth – the stadium and team are substandard.
Thus we laughed hollowly as the co-owner David Sullivan bemoaned the stewarding problems he had so blithely ignored when it was our children at risk. And then sadness set in as Trevor Brooking sat silently in the stands while the people who caused all this hid behind him.
Like many I am distraught that we have been brought so low, and in so toxic a fashion. Plenty are turning their backs, finding their club unrecognisable. For us West Ham will be a lost love while these owners remain in charge. We deserve better.
Jim Kearns is a season-ticket holder at West Ham and writer of the blog The H List. The fee for this article has been donated to Isla’s Fight
Telegraph
West Ham fans feel like we have been sold a lie – but the real issue is the disconnect between the board and the fanbase
Paul Turner vice chairperson of the West Ham United Independent Supporters’ Association
There is real anger and frustration among many in the West Ham United fanbase, and hundreds of fans clearly felt this weekend that they had to get that message across in some way or another.
That strength of feeling against the club’s board was only amplified by the team’s poor performance on the pitch, and by everything that had happened last week with a planned protest march that was eventually cancelled.
It felt as if many of these supporters had no other avenue through which they could vent their feelings, other than the game itself. And yet if West Ham had taken the lead, we would not have seen these incidents that took place in the London Stadium. That, though, does not wash away the long-standing fury that many supporters are feeling towards the current ownership.
To put it in the broadest possible terms, a number of West Ham fans feel like we have been sold a lie. They feel like they have been sold a lie on how much money the club would invest in player recruitment, a lie on what the change of stadium would do to the finances, and a lie on the way the operation is going to be run in the future.
That said, there is a wide spectrum of reasons for the discontent. Some fans might be unhappy with singular issues about stewarding at the new stadium, for example, while some could be having difficulties in travelling to home games. At the other end of the scale, there are some fans who will interrogate line after line of the club’s financial accounts.
There is a feeling that the club is in no better a financial state than it would have been if we were still played at the Boleyn Ground. For many fans looking for evidence of an upturn, there is no real discernible difference to how the club is being run or funded. That is seen as a failure to deliver what the co-owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, had promised.
There is a lack of trust in the owners, and a real disconnect between the board and the fanbase. There is also unhappiness at Gold’s activity on social media, which can feel unprofessional, and at the tabloid column written by Karren Brady, the club’s vice-chairman. There was particular unhappiness with Brady after It was reported last month that Leicester City refused to allow Islam Slimani join West Ham because she had caused the club offence in that column.
It is a blessing for the club that our next home game, against Southampton, is not until March 31. If that game was taking place this week, I think everyone would be simply waiting to see what the trigger would be for more protests.
Now that there are a couple of weeks out, the sting will be drawn from the situation and there will be time to reflect on the situation. But I have already seen suggestions that plans for a protest march could be revived, and it will take more than a little break to wash away the anger.
Evening Standard
David Sullivan must take a step back – West Ham need a chief executive to direct the club
KEN DYER
What occurred at the London Stadium on Saturday was unpleasant, unacceptable and for some - such as club legend Sir Trevor Brooking, captain Mark Noble, and members of the club’s triumphant FA Cup-winning side of 1964 who were there as special guests - just plain sad.
Centre of the storm | Irate West Ham fans turn their anger on club co-owner David Sullivan in the directors’ box at the London Stadium on Saturday Photo: Christopher Lee/West Ham United via Getty Images
As Sir Trevor will be only too aware though, it is not the first time that a section of West Ham fans have shown their displeasure in a similar way.
In the 1991-92 season when the club, on the back of promotion, decided in their wisdom to introduce a bond scheme, there were various pitch invasions including one where a fan took it upon himself to sit down in protest on the centre spot at the Boleyn Ground. West Ham were relegated that year.
In 1996-97, when they were again struggling to stay in the top division and the then chairman Terry Brown refused to sell to Michael Tabor, there was a ‘red card’ protest and another pitch invasion. The club stayed up, largely because they responded by investing significantly in two strikers, John Hartson and Paul Kitson.
So the question today has to be: what are David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady intending to do to placate those supporters - and there are many of them - who are unhappy with the way the club are being run?
Not the few who ran on the pitch on Saturday during the 3-0 defeat to Burnley, the fan who brandished a corner flag, not even the couple of hundred who took advantage of the inept stewarding to vent their fury at the hierarchy - but the mostly silent majority who feel the club they loyally support are at best shambolic and at worst entirely dysfunctional.
The first and most pressing answer to what now seems an almost insoluble problem is that there is no repeat when West Ham next play at home in three weeks’ time of the weekend’s ugly scenes which are now the subject of a Football Association and club enquiry.
That, you would imagine, could be solved by sensible stewarding but not at the London Stadium, where such matters are overseen by the stadium operators, LS185.
Is it too much to ask, when there are supposed to be a thousand stewards at West Ham’s home matches, for one or two to actually go onto the pitch and give club captain Noble a hand in apprehending one or two of the offenders?
The reasons why those few infiltrated the playing area, why hundreds roared their abusive discontent - and thousands more are unhappy and disillusioned - are more complex and, as a result, more problematical.
Noble summed it up on Saturday when he said that the ill-feeling had been bubbling away for two seasons - in fact ever since the club moved from their old home, with all its East End history and atmosphere, to the more sterile environs of Stratford.
There were those, as with every club that moves home, who just do not want to go; there are some who are apprehensive but prepared to give it a try - and those who cannot wait to sample a new, bigger stadium with infinitely better transport links, loads more toilets and - in West Ham’s case - sensibly-priced seats.
It is even okay, as West Ham’s owners did, to promise their supporters that this was the moment - not merely a commercial opportunity - to take the club to a different level and even European qualification.
That ambition was something to which fans could cling when the seating was not retractable as was promised and some seats were so far away from the action that opticians in East London and Essex suddenly struck boom time.
If you promise success, you have to deliver it and a £29 million net investment in the West Ham playing squad since they moved has proved totally inadequate.
When you add in a selection of the intemperate public utterances by the people who are supposed to run the club, the £43m profit they made in the 2016-17 season - and failed to re-invest in the squad - and it is unsurprising that West Ham’s fan base has quite simply had enough.
Even the cancellation of the mass protest march last Saturday backfired because many who felt thwarted by that decision vented their spleen in the stadium immediately Burnley scored the first of their three goals.
So how can this perilous situation be improved? Most importantly, Sullivan must stop doing player deals and talking to agents but follow the example of practically every other professional club and appoint someone with experience and knowledge, whether a chief executive, managing director or whatever, to act as a conduit between owners and management.
As for West Ham’s supporters, they need to temporarily put aside their grievances and back their team if they want to be watching Premier League football next season.
One thing is for sure, things need to change at West Ham DisUnited - and quickly.
