Roma are on the verge of sealing a move for Dejan Lovren, with Calciomercato reporting that Paulo Fonseca requested of his board that they provide him with a central defender who is “reliable and accurate” and that after pondering long and hard and looking high and low, they decided that Liverpool’s defensive outcast was their man. “Negotiations are already advanced,” it says, with negotiations set to conclude “in the coming days”.

The Giallorossi are also identifying striking options in case Patrik Schick is sold before their transfer window closes, with Borussia Dortmund apparently keen on the 23-year-old Czech goal-getter, who rejected the chance to join Newcastle this summer in the hope that a club in the Champions League would come up with an alternative offer. Roma’s first choice, according to Corriere dello Sport, is Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi, who apparently had had enough of loan moves but might accept one if there is an obligation to buy at the end of it.

Instead of Manchester City being unable to afford Harry Maguire, as claimed by Pep Guardiola, apparently they were rejected by him. The Mirror reports that Maguire “turned his back on City” because “he had his heart set on United, who he supported while growing up”. So we are supposed to believe that although City would have paid him £278,000 a week, about £100,000 more than he gets at Old Trafford, and he would have won loads of trophies there while working under one of the managerial greats, Maguire chose an inferior team and Ole Gunnar Solskjær because of some childhood dreams. This throws up the tantalising possibility that he would have rejected United as well had he only been offered the chance to become a train driver, or an astronaut. The idea of making a childhood dream come true does sound appealing, but if this kind of dreamy but illogical decision-making eventually reveals itself on the pitch United will be in serious trouble.

Alexis Sánchez is ready to move to Italy, according to the Mirror, with Juventus, Napoli and both Milanese giants interested. Manchester United, they say, are so desperate to be shot of him they “will listen to any offers”. The Mail meanwhile has calculated his cost to United at £560,000 a week, including wages, image rights, a £21,370-a-week payment to his agent, assorted bonuses and national insurance contributions.

The Chilean’s former team-mate at Arsenal, Mesut Özil, could be on the move: the Washington Post reports that his agent was in Washington on Wednesday, where he discussed the possibility of the German moving to the MLS “as early as next year” with a couple of DC United suits. “The group lunched in the Navy Yard, toured Audi Field and was scheduled to visit the future site of United’s training center in Leesburg,” it says. “While there, the group watched a second division match at Segra Field, the newly opened home to DC-owned Loudoun United.” It sounds like quite the day out.

Jack Butland is determined to leave Stoke this summer in search of the top-flight football that might earn him a return to the England squad, and with his Premier League suitors having been priced out is willing to move to Europe, says the Mail. The move now hinges on whether Stoke are willing to accept less than the £30m they were optimistically demanding of his English suitors.