Plus: Chelsea to slash 19 players’ wages when they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League; West Ham have identified Lille’s Paulo Fonseca as a potential replacement for David Moyes; Chelsea have not placed Luis Enrique among the leading candidates for the head coach job’
All the top stories and transfer rumours from Thursday’s newspapers…
DAILY MAIL
Chelsea stars are considering their future over major concerns about the club’s direction.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has suggested Barcelona would have to take ‘financial measures’ if they wanted to re-sign Lionel Messi.
Victor Osimhen has been told by his idol Didier Drogba a move to Paris Saint-Germain would be the wrong one to make if he wants to keep progressing as a player.
Liverpool are starting to facilitate refunds from UEFA for tickets bought by their fans for the disastrous 2021-22 Champions League final.
Yorkshire CCC could face running out of money to pay player and staff salaries before the end of the season with banks reluctant to provide a £20m loan due to concerns over the club’s financial forecasts.
Referee Michael Oliver earned around £3,000 – roughly double his Premier League officiating fee – to take charge of the Saudi League game between Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal this week and was flown to the Middle East in business class.
Manchester United do not want Alejandro Garnacho to play in the upcoming U20 World Cup in his native Argentina according to reports from South America.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has admitted he came close to retiring from the NFL last season after suffering a third concussion scare.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Chelsea have not placed Luis Enrique among the leading candidates for the permanent head coach job as the club start to cut down their shortlist and prepare for a new round of talks.
Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali made another trip to the Stamford Bridge dressing room on Tuesday night, but this time steered clear of making any speeches to the players.
Manchester United and City are facing calls from anti-discrimination campaigners to amend their badges amid suggestions that the boats on their motifs are linked to slavery.
A new breakaway in European football politics will have the considerable support of Spain’s LaLiga president Javier Tebas to challenge the authority of the European Club Association (ECA), run by his arch-rival the Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
The London Marathon will escape large-scale disruption after Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, the two climate change protest groups, agreed not to target Sunday’s event.
Fly-half Marcus Smith has revealed his hunger to secure a place in the England squad all stemmed from a Twitter troll four years ago who baited him by saying he would never make it “because he couldn’t tackle.”
THE GUARDIAN
West Ham have identified Lille’s Paulo Fonseca as a potential replacement for David Moyes, who is likely to part company with the club at the end of the season.
THE SUN
Chelsea are set to slash 19 players’ wages when they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Tottenham are interested in Chelsea’s 19-year-old defender Levi Colwill.
Arsenal have been handed a huge boost in their battle for the Premier League title as Oleksandr Zinchenko has returned to training.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has been branded “almost a dictator” who made “false promises” by Riccardo Basta, a player he coached during his time at Bayern Munich.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is back in training to give Arsenal a boost ahead of Friday’s clash with struggling Southampton.
DAILY MIRROR
Karim Benzema is set to leave Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 after agreeing a fresh one-year contract extension with the club.
Ospreys star Harri Morgan has revealed he tried to take his own life in February and will take a break from rugby to prioritise his mental and physical well-being.
DAILY STAR
Will Still could sideline his love of West Ham to takeover at Tottenham in the summer following reports of a surprise meeting.
Manchester City are set to hand Erling Haaland a new deal – and it will remove his £150m release clause.
DAILY EXPRESS
Tottenham will reportedly demand a fee in the region of £88m for Harry Kane this summer with Paris Saint-Germain now set to rival Manchester United for his signature.
Liverpool’s interest in Chelsea and England forward Mason Mount is looking more likely to bear fruit with the potential 30 per cent cut in his Stamford Bridge wages set to kick in as they miss out on next season’s Champions League.
Michael Schumacher’s family is planning to take legal action against German publication Die Aktuelle after it published an AI-generated interview with the former F1 driver, who has not been seen in public since suffering serious head injuries in a ski accident in 2013.
THE TIMES
Erling Haaland is ready to discuss a contract extension with Manchester City, who are keen to offer the free-scoring Norway striker a new and improved deal after his excellent first season at the club.
THE INDEPENDENT
Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds has promised a “monster” party if the team can defeat Boreham Wood and win the title on Saturday.
DAILY RECORD
Michael Beale is confident his scouting team will be able to bring Champions League-level talent to Rangers this summer despite the departure of sporting director Ross Wilson.
Aberdeen have been told there is no chance of further appeals over Graeme Shinnie’s red card against Ross County because of the rule book they helped to write.
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