What the papers say

Tottenham have named their price for Harry Kane as Bayern Munich continue their pursuit of the England striker, reports The Sun. Mail Online says the German club are willing to bid up to £85 million for the 30-year-old – still well short of the £100 million asking price.

Wales international Brennan Johnson has emerged as a potential target for Tottenham if Kane leaves, according to the Daily Mirror. Nottingham Forest have already rejected a bid of £35 million from Brentford for the forward, 22.

Manchester United are eyeing up two potential replacements for Harry Maguire, according to the Daily Mail. Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo, 23, and Everton centre-half Jarrad Branthwaite, 21, are both seen as long-term alternatives if Maguire leaves.

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Brighton and Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton hailed Jose Izquierdo despite a costly miss from the winger during Saturday s entertaining 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

Colombia international Izquierdo laid on both goals for the hosts at the Amex Stadium as Brighton twice led through Anthony Knockaert and Glenn Murray.

But he botched a one-on-one opportunity with the score at 2-1 and Callum Wilson went on to smuggle a 79th-minute equaliser for Eddie Howe s side.

I think he made the right choice, his last touch was a heavy touch, he d run a long way and it probably looked like it was either going to be 3-1 to us or they were going to get back in the game, Hughton told reporters.

That was just one of the few good opportunities that we had, in what was a fairl…

Competition: World Cup qualifiers
Market: Italy to win against Israel
Odds:

Italy travel to the Haifa International Stadium to face Israel in their opening World Cup qualifier in Group G, and are desperate to get off to winning start given only the top side in the table will automatically book their place in the finals in 2018.

Home side Israel have struggled for form ahead of Monday’s clash, suffering four consecutive defeats to Cyprus, Belgium, Croatia and Serbia. Their defence has been ruthlessly exposed in 2016, and their poor results will give Italy confidence of picking up from where they left off in Euro 2016 this summer.

Visitors Italy impressed in the European Championships, enjoying wins over Belgium and Spain among others. Gli Azzurri ha…

Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke has thanked Bayern Munich counterpart Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for letting Mats Hummels return to Signal Iduna Park.

The Germany international is back at Dortmund for a second spell after a €38million agreement was reached between the Bundesliga rivals in June.

Hummels won three successive top-flight crowns with Bayern, including last season s when finishing two points in front of BVB, but Rummenigge was still willing to sanction the experienced centre-back s exit when a big bid came in.

I am very grateful to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for having respected the player s will, Watzke told DPA. I thought that was extraordinary. 

Mit ner kleinen Regenschlacht das Trainingslager eingeleitet.

— Mat…

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes Mauricio Pochettino will remain at Tottenham for many years despite growing links to Real Madrid.

Pochettino has emerged as a possible candidate to replace under-fire Madrid boss Zidane as the Spanish and European champions struggle domestically, and the Spurs manager previously refused to rule out a move to the Santiago Bernabeu.

The 45-year-old has impressed since arriving in 2015, guiding Tottenham to second in the Premier League last season, having finished third in 2015-16.

Speaking on the eve of United s trip to Tottenham at Wembley Wednesday, Mourinho told reporters: I look at Spurs history and I don t see a small club at all. I see a big club with big expectations and dreams to achieve.

I see him …

Best odds: 10/11

Bookmaker:

Lazio and Fiorentina will both be hoping to get back to winning ways when they take each other on at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday, after disappointing draws at the weekend. It will be the 16th round of the 2020-21 Serie A roller coaster.

Lazio

On Sunday, Simone Inzaghi s team couldn t do more than share the spoils with relegation threatened Genoa, as their early lead, courtesy of a 15th-minute penalty from Ciro Immobile, got cancelled out in the second half by Mattia Destro. In the round before that one, Lazio were defeated by league leaders AC Milan.

Lazio are currently on a run of form which cannot be described as good. From their last six outings in all competitions, they won only one, drew three times and lost twice.<…

West Ham United and Crystal Palace are interested in signing Omar Richards from Reading in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that Palace have a long-term interest in the 22-year-old and have track him for over a season.

The report has added that Palace’s London and Premier League rivals West Ham are also interested in Richards, who can operate as a left-back or as a wing-back. The Hammers are claimed to have made inquiries over the availability of the youngster, but the Royals are planning to hand him a new contract.

According to , Richards has made seven Championship appearances for Reading so far this season. During the 2019-20 campaign, the youngster has made 23 starts and five substitute appearances in the league for the Royals, and m…

Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand is not frightened by Kylian Mbappe but conceded there is only so much you can do to stop the France striker.

Mbappe scored in Les Bleus 4-1 win against Australia in their World Cup Group D opener on Tuesday and looked razor sharp alongside Olivier Giroud.

Hjulmand s men ground out a goalless draw against Tunisia, although keeping another clean sheet against the defending champions may be trickier to achieve.

Asked if he was frightened at the thought of trying to keep Mbappe quiet, Hjulmand replied: I don t think it s good to be frightened. We have plans to stop him. At Parken [in September] we had a good plan, a good structure. He had two or three chances and no matter what plans you have against top players, you can t keep them down…

Lautaro Martinez scored twice as Inter went top of Serie A with a commanding 4-0 win over Cagliari at San Siro.

Martinez, who also had a penalty saved, opened the scoring with a first-half header and Alexis Sanchez doubled the lead shortly after the restart.

Hakan Calhanoglu’s thumping 25-yard strike increased the advantage, before Martinez put the icing on the cake by taking his Serie A tally for the season to 10 with a neat finish.

Simone Inzaghi s side moved a point clear of city rivals Milan at the summit of the table after an eighth win in 10 league meetings with the Rossoblu.

4 Lautaro Martinez has scored in four consecutive league games in a single season for the first time since he plays in . Perpetual.

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo)

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Bradley Carnell is eager to get going again when St. Louis City return to MLS action against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, two weeks on from their last game.

St. Louis were last in action on April 21, when Tomas Totland s last-gasp equaliser saw them claim a 3-3 draw against rivals Sporting Kansas City.

Carnell s team have only lost one of their last eight MLS games, though five of those have finished level to leave them ninth in the Western Conference standings, one point behind the Dynamo.

Speaking about the challenges of their long wait for a game, Carnell said: The week off was nice, it gave us some time to plan and prep for the next few weeks and where we re going.

There s going to be a ton of games so it s really important for us to do that. We c…