The Sun Newspaper

CRYSTAL PALACE will make one final record-breaking bid for  Watford’s Ismaila Sarr.
Manchester United were rumoured to have made a deadline day loan move for the winger after missing out on Jadon Sancho.

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Crystal Palace are ready to make a final club-record bid for Watford’s Ismaila SarrCredit: Alamy Live News

But relegated Hornets insisted they would only sell… and not for a penny less than £40million.
And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side now look out of the race for the Senegalese star, 22.
The Eagles have money to spend but, with big-earners Andros Townsend and Christian Benteke  staying, they only have enough for ONE major swoop.

Despite that, they could go as high as a club record £30m for Sarr — but that may still not be enough.
If they fail, Palace will try again for Brentford’s Said Benrahma.
And they may try going in low if they are the only bidders.
But reports claim the Algeria international, linked with Chelsea and Arsenal earlier this summer, has plenty of other Premier League suitors.

90min claim West Ham have offered an initial £17m for the playmaker.

That’s despite the Hammers selling Grady Diangana to West Brom after claiming they had too many wingers.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is another Benrahma fan after spending big on Brentford teammate Ollie Watkins.
And Leeds continue to be linked after coming up against Benrahma in the Championship.

Watford’s Ismaila Sarr shows off his skills on the training pitch More

THERE was something quite fitting about Manchester City breaking their club record to sign Ruben Dias.
For the £64.5million centre-back charged with plugging Pep Guardiola’s leaking defence has been smashing things since he first kicked a football.

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Ruben Dias has been charged with fixing City’s leaking defenceCredit: AFP

Back then, though, it was more about crockery than cups… unless they also  happened to be in the firing line for a young Ruben and older brother Ivan.
As youngsters growing up in Amadora, on the outskirts of Lisbon, they were booting a ball around in the park with father Joao almost as soon as they could walk.
Yet even when they were back in the family flat, the two football-mad kids would carry on their game.
And that regularly landed them in hot water with mother Bernadette, as a stray shot turned the family kitchen into a war zone.

So any ear-bashings Ruben may get off his new gaffer Pep will pale into insignificance compared to his mum.
Bernadette joked: “The first time Ruben and Ivan used to kick a ball around was at home and their first stadium was the corridor in the flat.
“There was a bedroom at one end and the kitchen at the other, with the doors to both as goalposts. You can imagine a few balls were flying into the kitchen and quite a few things were broken, while you’d hear one of them yelling, ‘Gooolooo!’
“It was madness but I also had to smile because I knew they were having fun — and that’s what you want for your children.

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For the young Dias, the corridor was a good football pitch

“And while football was the main thing, it was also swimming and then karate, which gave them both self-confidence and taught them how to become a leader.”
Ruben, 23, has carried that into his footballing career, coming through the ranks  at Benfica and earning a reputation as Portugal’s finest centre-back in years.
Brother Ivan, also a central defender and two years the senior, is in his first season with Oriental in the Portuguese second tier.
But it was the younger Dias who had something special, even when they were first booting a ball around with their dad in the park.

Even if it was pouring with rain he’d always be saying, ‘Let’s just play a bit more’
Ruben Dias’ father

Joao said: “When they were little I spent a lot of time playing football with them, but it didn’t take long before both were stronger than me. That meant I had to think of  different things to improve their skills.
“Ruben always had the drive to play football. Even if it was pouring with rain he’d always be saying, ‘Let’s just play a bit more’. He had such a strong character.
“I was delighted when he played for Benfica because that is the club I have always supported since I was a kid.
“He has always been so determined to give his best at everything, and that’s what has got him where he is today.”

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Dias joined Man City for £64.5m last monthCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Man City complete £64m Ruben Dias transfer More

HAD you bet a tenner on Man United losing 6-1 at home to Spurs plus Liverpool losing 7-2 at Villa Park, I guess  you’d have been close to making millions.
Add in my West Ham team’s much deserved and magnificent 3-0 win at Leicester and you’d have been able to park your big yacht next to Roman Abramovich’s.

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Football stadiums remain empty despite places like cinemas operating with safe social distancingCredit: PA:Press Association

But no one did. Or at least he or she is staying shtum about it.
Never in the history of the modern game has there been two results quite like them on the same day and the simple question has to be… why?
I’ve read a number of explanations already. The obvious, and no doubt the closest, is that the defending was not what the defeated managers would have wished for, while the winners’ forward play was dazzling.
I do wonder, though, whether the delayed season has put players slightly out of sync.

Blaming the Prime Minister or the Health Secretary for this would be convenient — but in this case Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock are as innocent as Boris’ dog.
The season began a month late and I suspect Manchester City, who started nine days after most clubs, were undercooked when they lost 5-2 at home to Leicester.
Liverpool’s 4-3 win  at home to Leeds, already one of the most exciting promoted clubs for some while, also set the scene.
And how many paying supporters watched all this vivid action in real life?  Absolutely none. How ridiculous is that?

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Karren Brady believes footy fans should be allowed safely back for live gamesCredit: Handout

Take one club, Aston Villa. Their fans had  waited decades for a victory of this substance.
Brummies were thunderstruck after 90 minutes that will re-energise their  support across the West Midlands and even in Kensington Palace, where Prince William must have been dancing in the dining room.
He and his wife Kate were so thrilled they emailed congrats.
For all that Liverpool suffered their biggest defeat in more than half a century, their lynchpin defender Virgil van Dijk said a crowd “lifts our performances at home but when you play away and the home fans turn against you, I like that. It gives you that motivation sometimes to do better.
“It’s something I definitely enjoy and that I miss.”
Ex-Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal estimated crowd absence affected players “20 per cent in the head”.
So never mind the missing millions in receipts, there’s some missing adrenalin, too.
But why have empty stands led to full nets? In the first 38 games since the new Premier League season started, there have been 144 goals, one-a-game more than last season.
Fans are missing a bonanza and while all of us are aware of the  reasoning behind the Government’s position, the logic behind our locked turnstiles is distinctly wonky.

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Fans are missing out on some glorious games and their loyalty over the years is going unrewardedCredit: Reuters
If cinemas are allowed to socially distance audiences, why not football or, for that matter, rugby clubs?
It would be perfectly possible, as an example, to separate people in a portion of one spectator to four seats. At the London Stadium this would limit the attendance to about 15,000.
Any range of further measures are available — plastic partitions, masks, temperature tests, sanitisers, stewarded queues, alcohol bans — and when these are proven to work, plans for an increase in the maximum examined by the authorities.
At smaller grounds, it should be possible to set the bar lower,  perhaps at 1-3 or 1-2.
If the Government allowed the same percentage capacity as they have granted the 02 and the Royal Albert Hall there would be no need for a bailout of League One and Two as this amount of gate revenue would be enough to save them. And for those demanding  the PL bail them out… we already do!
Not a lot of people realise  the PL already give £110m a year to the EFL, which means  every Championship club gets £4.5m,  League One club £700k and  League Two club almost £500k.
 And not to forget the £190m PL clubs spent on buying players from the EFL so far in this window.
Also, is there any logic in allowing indoor venues to have crowds but football stadiums not to? If there is, no one has explained it to me or to anyone else in football.
Which is why the PL, WSL and the EFL wrote an open letter to the Government to urge them to allow us to return fans safely to stadiums.
Boris says we must save the  economy. Well, here we are — willing and able to help with the greatest save he’ll ever make.

Premier League matches will cost £14.95 on PPV Box Office channels with Man Utd and Chelsea games among first clashes More