Manchester United will bring Cristiano Ronaldo, 31, back to Old Trafford if they meet Real Madrid’s £80m asking price, according to The Sun.

And once again, key to the deal and to Manchester United’s hopes of pushing the deal through, is agent Jorge Mendes, who is currently in talks with the club about the appointment of another of his clients, Jose Mourinho.

Now he has star client Mourinho in position at United he can grease the wheel of business and make himself some serious cash.

He is also Ronaldo’s agent and could make the deal happen as long as United want to go through with it.

Mourinho and Mendes have held talks with Red Devils chief executive Ed Woodward and it is believed they have, in addition to Mourinho’s contract, also discussed what transfer targets United will go after.

It is likely Ronaldo’s name came up but whether United would want to pay £80m for a 31-year-old remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, The Independent claims Mourinho has identified Karim Benzema as a priority target for Manchester United – and plans to play him up top alongside either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Marcus Rashford in a two-man attack.

The former Olympique Lyonnais forward is currently negotiating a new deal at Real that would see him extend his £150,000-a-week contract until 2020 and there is also the issue of the player facing a potential court case in France after being charged with conspiracy to blackmail last November over an alleged attempt to extort money from Lyon winger Mathieu Valbuena using a sex tape. Benzema denies the charge.

United are also aware that Benzema has consistently resisted offers to move to the Premier League, with Arsenal also failing to tempt him from Madrid to England.

Liverpool face competition from Borussia Dortmund and Roma in their efforts to sign Poland international midfielder Piotr Zielinski from Udinese.

The Poland midfielder was reported to be on the brink of a move to the Reds last week, but his agent now claims a transfer to Anfield is in danger of collapsing – and the player could find himself joining either Roma or Dortmund.

Zielinski, 22, was snapped up by Udinese back in 2011, but has spent the last two campaigns on loan with Serie A rivals Empoli.

His impressive form in Serie A had seen him linked with a £10million switch to Liverpool this summer, but now his agent Bartolomiej Bolek has explained the delay.

Bolek has told Forza Roma that the move to Liverpool is at risk and could collapse, and suggested it was ‘difficult’ to say whether the playmaker would end up at Roma, as the player is now focusing his attentions on Poland’s Euro 2016 campaign.