You can’t blame Antonio Conte for wanting some new wing-backs. In his entire squad he basically only has two – Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses – and he just happened to get lucky last season that they never got injured and he didn’t have to recall Baba Rahman from his loan.

But Conte, understandably, doesn’t again want to take the risk of possibly having to recall Baba Rahman. He wants fresh blood on both flanks, but it’s proving tricky to acquire.

Today’s Sun reports that Chelsea’s top left-sided target is Tottenham rebel Danny Rose, who appears to have been forgiven for his recent “Google” rant but whose head may yet be turned by a £50m bid from the Blues.

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The tabloid says Chelsea will make such an offer “hours after Sunday’s game between the clubs at Wembley”. The relevance of this timing is unclear given that Rose won’t be playing in that game, and even if he was it would be no reason for Chelsea not to bid for him.

It all leaves the suspicion that the Sun are simply keen to publish as many Danny Rose stories as possible just because it gives them an excuse to make reference to his “explosive interview with SunSport”.

And anyway, it seems quite clear that Conte’s real first-choice left-back is Alex Sandro of Juventus. However, the Mail says Chelsea’s latest enquiry for the Brazilian has been “rebuffed”, while the Standard claims Conte is “relying” on Sandro to hand in a transfer request to force through a move.

On the right side, where Moses’ suspension for the opening Premier League game already caused Chelsea problems, Conte is said by the Telegraph to have turned his attentions to Southampton’s Cedric Soares, for whom he is considering a £15m bid.

Silky midfielders

Spurs, meanwhile, are said by L’Equipe to have “reached an agreement” to sign Paris Saint-Germain right-back – and another alleged Chelsea target – Serge Aurier for around £20m. So much for placing their trust in Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker-Peters then.

Chelsea don’t just want full-backs, by the way. The Star says Antonio Conte also remains keen to bring £80m-rated Torino striker Andrea Belotti to Stamford Bridge, despite having already signed Alvaro Morata. That tells you everything you need to know about Michy Batshuayi’s display against Burnley on Saturday.

The Star also claims that Liverpool are set to make the most of Philippe Coutinho’s unhappiness by trying to persuade Barcelona to give them silky Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic in part-exchange for the Brazilian, which would be nice.

Speaking of silky midfielders, poor old Jack Wilshere has gone from being linked with Juventus yesterday to being linked with Aston Villa today, reports the Mail. What must that do to a man’s brain?

Juve are now said to be targeting Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini instead and have made a £22.5m bid for hairy Belgian, claims the Sun.

Elsewhere, Man Utd and Liverpool have joined the race to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but the Arsenal midfielder wants to join Chelsea (Express), West Ham’s club record move for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho has “stalled” after the Portuguese side demanded £40m (Sun) and Manchester City have told Inter Milan they can have centre-back Eliaquim Mangala if they pay £18m for him (Express). The Italians could probably get the price down to £180,000 if they haggle though.

@darlingkevin