Transfer Rumours And Paper Review

Here's the top transfer-related stories in Friday's newspapers...

Manchester United will off-load Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria this summer - to make way for the marquee signing of Gareth Bale. (Daily Mirror)

The Red Devils are also considering an ambitious £40 million move for Harry Kane, the Tottenham Hotspur and England striker, this summer. (The Times)

Atlético Madrid are attempting to ward off Chelsea’s interest in their forwards Antoine Griezmann and Koke by raising the buy-out clauses to nearer £100m in the new contracts to be offered to both players this summer. (The Guardian)

Andre Ayew is likely to leave Marseille for the Premier League this summer, according to the club's president Vincent Labrune. (Daily Star)

Inter Milan president Erick Thohir has admitted the club will pursue the signing of Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure across the summer. (Daily Mail)

Manchester City have joined the £25million race for Monaco star Geoffrey Kondogbia. The France star has also been linked with Arsenal. (The Sun)

Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel has emerged as a transfer target for Arsenal should they fail to land Petr Cech this summer. (Daily Telegraph)

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has admitted he would like to sign defender Robert Huth permanently, but said talks have not taken place with Stoke. (Leicester Mercury)

Nigel Pearson is set to make a £8million bid for Shinji Okazaki this summer after reopening talks with Mainz. (Daily Telegraph)

Money isn't everything: Juventus are worth €774m, Real Madrid valued at €3.1bn

The European Cup has had its surprise successes over the years and, as such, Juventus' progression to the Champions League final at the expense of Real Madrid should not have come as such a major shock.

The Old Lady is no penniless pauper, with her status as Italy's biggest club being bolstered by yet another Serie A title this season. It was hardly a David vs Goliath story. The trip to Berlin in June will mark their eighth final, not their first.

Yet the ever-widening gap between the richest and the rest in the modern game dictates that any failure for one of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid becomes a huge story. The phenomenal pulling power of the top trio has threatened not just to leave behind the minnows of the game, but also many of the traditional giants from elsewhere across the globe - Juventus included.

Not since 2008 has the Champions League final taken place without one of Barca, Bayern or Madrid, while all three have made the semi-finals in three of the last four campaigns. It is four years since the Germans didn't make the semis, with Madrid going one better. Barca, meanwhile, have only once failed to make the last four in eight attempts since a last-16 exit to Liverpool in 2007.

There can be no doubting that the financial conditions which have been put in place in recent years have been hugely beneficial to the traditional powerhouses, with the largely unchanged make-up of the Champions League each season speaking volumes about the way the natural order has been strengthened.

But just as the Premier League's financial might has not blown away European opposition, the top three have also found plenty of competition in the latter stages of the Champions League from those with far less muscle in the market.

In 2010, Inter upset the odds to win the trophy, while Schalke made the semi-finals 12 months later. Then there was Borussia Dortmund's run to the 2013 final and Atletico's similar achievement last year. The bigger the biggest clubs get, the more astonishing such achievements are.

While Juventus versus Real Madrid might have been a fairer fight back in 2003 when the Bianconeri last saw off the Blancos to reach a final, the same cannot be said now. Madrid had twice the income of Juve in 2013-14, and over the last three years alone they have coined in €835 million more than the Turin side in commercial, matchday and broadcasting revenues.

As a result, Real Madrid as a club now has an estimated value of €3.1 billion, four times as large as Juventus' €774m valuation. The first XI which took to the field at the Santiago Bernabeu cost €425.5m compared to Juve's €128.8m.

All common reason pointed to a Real Madrid win, but Juventus' success gives football hope. It shows why the sport still has a future. If the success of the rich was a foregone conclusion, the rest of us would have every reason to just pack up and go home.

But when Massimiliano Allegri and his Bianconeri take their pre-match walk around the field at the Olympiastadion on June 6, they will be playing not just for Juventus fans – not just for Italy – but for the vast majority of European football. They are proving that the game is not always about who has the most money.

Juve, like Atletico, Dortmund and Schalke before them, are keeping the dream alive.

'Liverpool will regret letting Gerrard leave'

Liverpool will live to regret their decision to allow Steven Gerrard to leave the club for LA Galaxy this summer, says club legend Ray Houghton.

Gerrard will play his final game at Anfield against Crystal Palace on Saturday before ending his 17-year association with the Merseysiders at the end of the season.

Player and club were unable to agree terms on a new contract with Liverpool only willing to offer the 34-year-old reduced terms to extend a deal which runs out this summer.

And Houghton, who played 202 times for the Reds in a five-year spell, believes Liverpool should have taken a leaf out of rivals Manchester United's book and done all they could to convince Gerrard to stay.

"Manchester United got it right with Ryan Giggs," Houghton told Goal. "A great one-club man who was recognised as having so much still to offer.

"Louis van Gaal came in and saw that he was a point of reference at United, and that should have been the thinking with Stevie.

"I know Stevie wasn't ready for a coaching role, but even with an eye to the future I don't think it was ever offered to him.

"Stevie is unique at the club not just in his knowledge of the game but his knowledge of Liverpool.

"There are very few left at the club steeped with the traditions of Liverpool. Jamie Carragher left to join the media and he is another one that Liverpool would have done well to keep hold.

"Liverpool has always been a club with plenty of links with the past. Where are they now? First-team coach Mike Marsh is one, but not many more.

"Don't forget Stevie is a lad who was a Liverpool fan before he was a Liverpool player. If he wasn't a footballer, he'd probably be in the Kop. That is a priceless commodity that's been lost."

Liverpool are set to miss out on Champions League qualification this summer, finding themselves six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United with two games remaining.

Houghton believes his former club need more quality if they are to challenge at the highest level again and claims that the loss of Gerrard is a step in the wrong direction.

He added: "Liverpool have lost their superstars and they need to attract new ones if they want to get back in the Champions League and contesting league titles.

"Stevie is a superstar who could have attracted better players than Liverpool currently have by remaining at the club in an active capacity.

"He is an inspiration to many and his experience is invaluable. Now it's the MLS that is getting the benefit and it should still be Liverpool."

With the American campaign beginning in March and ending in December at the latest, there has been talk that Gerrard could return to the Premier League in MLS close-season.

Frank Lampard spent this term on loan at Manchester City despite announcing he had signed for New York City last summer, but Houghton does not envisage Gerrard playing another competitive match in England.

"I know Robbie Keane well and he combined playing for LA Galaxy in the MLS with playing here for Aston Villa a couple of years ago, but he said it took a toll on his body and has not done it since," he said.

"There is a lot of travelling involved and Stevie has gone over there to enjoy the end of his career, I don't think his heart would be in it playing for anyone else other than Liverpool."

Ronaldo hasn't beaten a defender for months – Sacchi

Former AC Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi claims it has been months since Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo was able to beat a defender.

Ronaldo scored in both legs of the Champions League semi-final defeat to Juventus but has failed to find the net in three of his last four Liga matches.

Sacchi, who also spent 12 months at Madrid as sporting director between 2004 and 2005, claimed the Portugal international has been a long way from his best in recent weeks despite having already scored 55 goals this season.

"It's been three months since Cristiano Ronaldo got away from an opponent," Sacchi said on Mediaset.

"He scores, because he's a fighter, but he's not in form."

Ronaldo, who scored from the penalty spot in Wednesday's 1-1 draw that saw Madrid eliminated at the semi-final stage, hit 10 goals in 12 matches in this season's Champions League.

The 30-year-old Ballon d'Or holder has found the net 42 times in just 33 Liga appearances this season, though his goals look unlikely to secure Madrid the title as Barcelona need just one victory from their final two games to secure the Spanish crown.

Though they claimed the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, failure in domestic competition and the Champions League has left Carlo Ancelotti's future at the club in serious doubt.