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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Man Utd ‘want Ronaldo and Benzema’

He’s Portuguese, he’s smooth, he’s sexy, he’s one of the most powerful figures in world football and he’s on the verge of taking over at Manchester United. We’re talking, obviously, about Jorge Mendes.

The Super Agent, who counts Jose Mourinho among his clients, is currently rubbing his hands together Montgomery Burns-style at the prospect of helping the Special One spend his £200m “war chest” at Old Trafford this summer.

And because he’s a helpful guy, Mendes is giving the Red Devils a rare opportunity to buy his best product at a special price, a nice price, just for them. It’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Daily Star reveals that the nice price is £80m - the same amount United received for Ronaldo when they sold him to Real Madrid, although he was seven years younger then. The sum Mendes would stand to gain from such a transfer hurts the head to calculate - not that he cares about that, he’s just trying to help.

Mendes can “make the deal happen as long as United want it”, adds the Star. The only question is whether Mourinho feels his money might be spent somewhere else.

The Independent says the coach has identified a different Real Madrid player, Karim Benzema, as his “priority target”. Providing he doesn’t have to go to prison instead, the French striker could be paired up front with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is tipped by the Mail to be Mourinho’s “first signing”.

But that still won’t make much of a dent in Jose’s £200m. The Mirror says Mourinho has instructed United’s transfer guru Ed Woodward to buy him a new centre-back, right midfielder, central midfielder and centre-forward. The defender could be John Stones, who the Telegraph says the Red Devils are battling Man City and Barcelona to sign.

Dragging ourselves away from United for a moment, we learn from the Express that Chelsea have asked Everton to drop their £65m asking price for Romelu Lukaku saying they will “not be held to ransom”. Bet they are though.

The Blues also look set to miss out on long-term midfield target Koke, who has pledged his future to Atletico Madrid because they are quite obviously a better team than Chelsea (Standard).

Alan Pardew appears to have had some nostalgic feelings towards his old club Newcastle United, possibly while lying awake all night thinking about his FA Cup final dance. The Croydon Advertiser says Pards wants to bring three of his former Magpies – Davide Santon, Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote – to Selhurst Park to make him feel better.

Elsewhere, Andros Townsend has been spotted on a flight to Portugal fuelling speculation he will sign for Sporting Lisbon (Express), Liverpool’s 19-year-old midfielder Sergi Canos could leave Anfield for £4m (Liverpool Echo) and Middlesbrough have offered West Brom’s James Morrison £70,000-a-week to move to Teesside (Newcastle Chronicle). Who’s his agent, Jorge Mendes?

@darlingkevin