Atletico Madrid are giving up on the prospect of keeping French ace Antoine Griezmann at the club beyond this summer, with Manchester United known to be admirers of the forward.
The Red Devils are leading the chase to land Griezmann, but it will take a much as £80 million to lure him away - an eventuality for which the Spanish club is already preparing, reports the Sun.
While they publicly remain adamant that they do not plan to sell him, Atletico believe it is unlikely he will agree to stay for one more season, as they transition to a new stadium.
Griezmann is good mates with United's record signing Paul Pogba and the pair have spoken in the past about thow they would like to play together for club as well as country.
The paper reports a source within Atletico said" "We know now we are going to lose Antoine,it is a matter of when not if."
Jose Mourinho sees 'enemies' everywhere
Jose Mourinho claimed his Manchester United team have "lots of enemies" after their Europa League last-16 victory over FC Rostov, writes MirrorFootball's Jake Polden .
The Red Devils, who drew 1-1 with the Russian outfit at the Olymp-2 Stadium, recorded a 1-0 win over them at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
"We have lots of enemies. Normally the enemies should be Rostov but we have a lot of enemies," he told BT Sport.
"It’s difficult to play Monday with 10 men, it’s difficult to play now, it’s difficult to play 12pm on Sunday. We have a lot of enemies.
"A lot of people might say we should have scored more goals, but a lot of things are going against us. A lot of things.
"The boys are amazing boys. We will probably lose the game on Sunday now."
Manchester United should never have sold this trio
Staying with Jose Mourinho, the Manchester United manager says that there are three players sold under his predecessor Louis van Gaal that he definitely would have kept.
Speaking to Gary Lineker on the BBC, the Portuguese discussed his short tenure in charge of the Old Trafford outfit, writes MirrorFootball's Jake Polden .
"Manchester United sold players that I would never sell, and bought players I would never buy," said Mourinho.
"I would have never sold [Angel] Di Maria, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez], Danny Welbeck, never, no chance."
Paul Pogba no closer to justifying his world-record fee after
Sooner or later they reckon, Paul Pogba will come good, writes Steve Bates.
Don't hold your breath though because Donald Trump might win the Nobel Peace Prize first.
For this is a debut season going from bad to worse for the world's most expensive star who suffered a fresh blow as he limped off against FC Rostov on Thursday night after pulling up sharply just after half time.
You know you're in trouble when your manager risks ridicule defending you to the football world.
Mourinho claimed before Thursday night's Europa League clash that envy was driving the backlash against the £89 million star.
But after an embarrassingly bad opening 45 minutes against the Russian side maybe even Mourinho was left wondering whether his robust public display of support for Pogba was a wise move.