Gossip column: Rodriguez, Stones, Lukaku, Payet, Nolito, Sterling, Lukaku, Townsend

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Real Madrid forward James Rodriguez, 24, has been told he can leave the Champions League winners for Manchester United but only if the Old Trafford side are willing to part with £50m. (Daily Mirror), external

Manchester City are preparing an official bid for 22-year-old Everton defender John Stones, while the Toffees are hopeful a £75m price tag on Romelu Lukaku will ward off suitors for the 23-year-old striker. (Daily Express), external

Meanwhile, Lukaku has said he is leaving his agent to deal with his future. The Belgium international has been linked with a return to Chelsea. (Sky Sports), external

West Brom are in talks with Palermo over a £14m move for attacking midfielder Franco Vazquez, 27, who is valued by his club at £19m and does not appear to have the Hawthorns uppermost in his thoughts with his quote: "I do not know if my next team will be Tottenham or Chelsea." (Calcionews24, in Italian), external

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane says West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet, 29, "would improve any side in Europe". (Daily Mirror), external

New Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has telephoned struggling England forward Raheem Sterling, 21. Sterling was booed by sections of England's fans in the 2-1 win over Wales and did not feature in the draw against Slovakia .(Guardian), external

Image source, Other
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The Guardian leads on Guardiola's pep talk for Sterling

Manchester City target Nolito, 29, told Spain's Radio Marca: "For now, I haven't signed with City, but I won't lie so we'll see." City are prepared to meet the £13.8m buy-out clause in the Celta Vigo forward's contract. (Manchester Evening News), external

New Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has been given the task of returning the club to the top four of the Premier League. The Blues finished 10th last season. (Daily Mail), external

Sunderland, Manchester United, Everton and Southampton are all chasing Turkey international Ozan Tufan, 21. The Fenerbahce midfielder scored in his nation's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in the Euros. (Chronicle), external

Watford are the latest club to join the hunt for Newcastle and England winger Andros Townsend, 24. (Daily Mirror), external

Championship side Reading are closing in on Heerenveen midfielder Joey van den Berg, 30. (GetReading), external

Image source, Other
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The I's sporting pages focus on Wales v Northern Ireland

Manchester United striker Ashley Fletcher, 20, has turned down a new deal at Old Trafford. He spent time on loan at Barnsley last season and has been linked with a move to Leeds United. (Yorkshire Evening Post), external

Out-of-favour Everton striker Oumar Niasse, 26, is understood to be a target of Turkish side Galatasaray. The Senegalese joined the Toffees for £13.5m in February but has failed to score in seven appearances for the club. (Fotomac, via Talksport), external

Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all retain an interest in Spain international striker Alvaro Morata, 23. Real Madrid exercised their buy-back rights to re-sign him from Juventus earlier this week but could yet sell him on. (Squawka), external

New Hibernian boss Neil Lennon is considering making out-of-contract striker Scott McDonald, 32, his first signing at the Scottish Championship club. The Australian scored 14 goals for Motherwell last season. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Best of social media

It looks like France forward Antoine Griezmann and defender Lorent Koscielny are pretty relaxed, external before Sunday's last-16 tie with Republic of Ireland.

Image source, Twitter
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Griezmann (right) tweeted this picture of him and the Arsenal defender sporting some new glasses and messing around with the Snapchat filters

Tottenham had some fun with new signing Victor Wanyama. The Kenyan midfielder famously posted on Twitter in 2012: "I had spaghetti it was very nice I enjoyed it." So Spurs celebrated his arrival at White Hart Lane with this picture:

Image source, Twitter
Image caption,

Tottenham accompanied the photo with the tweet: "We signed @VictorWanyama and he was very nice we enjoyed it"

And finally...

England's last-16 opponents Iceland have a slightly different diet to the side they will be facing on Monday. Euro 2016's surprise package have national dishes that include rotten shark meat, raw whale flesh and puffin burgers. (Sun) , external

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