Ronald Koeman ready for Lionel Messi to join Manchester City – Paper Round

Ronald Koeman is ready for Lionel Messi to leave, Manchester United consider Max Allegri, Virgil van Dijk could miss the rest of the season and Luka Jovic is unloved at Real Madrid.

The Mirror reports that Ronald Koeman expects Lionel Messi to leave Barcelona at the end of the season to join Manchester City. Speaking to the press, he hinted that Messi will only see the exit this season: “I always had the hope that Messi would stay this season. If he had left in the summer, I would have had a very different situation at Barça. He wanted to leave but the club was very clear about it. The release clause was so high that not a single club in the world was going to pay that in these times. “

Paper Round’s opinion: The transfer fee that would have been necessary to sign Messi would have been prohibitively expensive for any club in the world, even without financial Fair Play. Koeman has a huge job, but maybe Barcelona will do better. Messi is now 33 years old and the board is about to be eliminated: it will be an opportunity to rebuild from top to bottom.

The Sun claims that Mauricio Pochettino is Manchester United’s number one contender to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian is off to a terrible start with United at the beginning of this season, and with some tough games to come, Pochettino tops the list of candidates as a possible replacement. However, Max Allegri is a backup option if he fails to convince the Argentine.

Paper Round’s opinion: Allegri did well with Juventus, but both Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri won the league with them as well. It is not an indicator of real managerial quality. Pochettino transformed the Spurs, but it’s worth remembering that he couldn’t win anything with the team, and in Ed Woodward there may be an even worse boss than Daniel Levy in terms of the transfer market.

Liverpool are concerned that Virgil van Dijk will be on the sidelines for a long period. The Liverpool central defender was on the receiving end of a brutal sliding tackle from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford on Saturday afternoon, and there are rumors that an ACL injury could rule him out for the rest of the season. Jurgen Klopp was unwilling to comment beyond acknowledging that it was serious, while the club will not comment either.

Paper Round’s opinion: With Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, Liverpool have an excellent partner to play in the back if they need to weather the storm without Van Dijk for a couple of months or so. But Van Dijk is the best defender in the league and if Manchester City, Everton or Spurs can regain some form it will be interesting to see if they can handle the pressure after so long at the top.

Spanish newspaper Marca reports that this summer, Real Madrid forward Luka Jovic was told that he would not play regularly with the team and that he could find a new club to spend the season on loan. Mariano Díaz rejected all offers to leave, but Jovic could not find a suitable destination in the search for regular minutes. Real ultimately want to bring Kylian Mbappé or Erling Haaland to the club.

Paper Round’s opinion: Jovic could not make his mark in Spain last season, but he is still young, only 22 years old, and needs some action to continue his development. If Real Madrid get in good shape and have a good time in the Champions League, then he could replace when Zinedine Zidane opts to give Karim Benzema a chance to get some rest.