Manchester United have hardened their stance on Paul Pogba by intimating privately that they value the midfielder at more than £150 million, sources have told ESPN FC.

The France international has suggested he would like to find a "new challenge" this summer amid interest from Real Madrid and Juventus.

- Premier League fixtures 2019-20 in full
- Who has qualified for Europe from the Premier League?
- When does the transfer window close?

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Wednesday United will not be bullied into selling Pogba after a series of public statements from his agent, Mino Raiola.

The World Cup winner, 26, has three years left on his contract and sources have told ESPN FC that United believe he is worth in excess of £150m in line with the spike in the transfer market following Neymar's £198m move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

Pogba arrived in a then world record £89.3m deal from Juventus in 2016. After travelling to Perth as part of United's preseason tour squad, Pogba is set to play in the first game of the summer against Perth Glory on Saturday.

Perth Glory are suffering from a lack of numbers for the friendly and may be forced to field two 15-year-olds, one the son of coach Tony Popovic.

Meanwhile, sources have told ESPN FC that United have distanced themselves from a move for Mario Lemina. The midfielder is set to leave Southampton this summer.

Some of the biggest moves in this summer's transfer market are taking a long time to come to fruition, and part of the reason for that is the size of the contracts involved. Which players are the most overpaid? Which player's deal is the hardest to move? Here are 10 of the most bloated contracts -- some even unmovable -- in terms of weekly wages in football today.

- O'Hanlon: What if more star footballers opted for free agency?
- Quiz: Which star are you? Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar or Mbappe?

10.) Diego Costa

The "angriest man in football" has never come across as someone afraid to assert his worth. Or at least what he thinks he's worth. Still, eyebrows were apparently raised last season when Costa -- who had scored just three league goals at that point since returning to Atletico Madrid from Chelsea -- asked for a pay raise. That raise was not granted, and you can see why: He's already on something like £140,000-a-week, which for an aging striker who can't stay fit and isn't scoring goals... is quite a lot. Surprisingly, he was this summer linked with a move back to the Premier League with Everton.

9.) Oscar

In some respects, you can't blame a player for taking the money when a team from the Chinese Super League comes calling. Footballers' careers are short and it's hard to turn that sort of money down. The problem comes when you elect to return to a higher standard of football -- which, when you move there in the prime of your career, is an urge that will come to many. Take Oscar, for example: he moved to Shanghai SIPG nearly three years ago, but he's still just 27. Yet if he wants to come back to Europe, or South America, who's going to match wages said to be around the £400,000-a-week mark?

8.) Danny Drinkwater

Such is the financial insanity of football. Danny Drinkwater's wages of £100,000-a-week actually aren't too exorbitant in relative terms. The problem comes in what sort of value he might have provided for that money, the answer to which is: not much. None at all, really, when you consider that since his £35 million transfer from Leicester City in January 2018, Drinkwater has made just 12 league appearances for the Blues, last season only playing a total of 30 minutes, which came in the Community Shield. In that sense, Drinkwater's contract definitely qualifies as "bloated."

7.) Philippe Coutinho

Everyone was so optimistic about Philippe Coutinho's move to Barcelona in January 2018, the hope being that he could be a replacement for Andres Iniesta. That has... not entirely gone to plan, and the word on the street is that Barca got buyer's remorse pretty quickly, and they would now very much like to rid themselves of Coutinho and his around £240,000-a-week wages. There are certainly bigger contracts in football, but this ranks up there with the worst of them on the expectations vs. delivery scale.

6.) Gonzalo Higuain

You have to feel pretty sorry for Gonzalo Higuain, really. It must be quite a blow to have been rejected by three teams in one season. First, Juventus, his parent club, loaned him out to Milan, who quickly decided he wasn't worth their time and shifted him on to Chelsea, who after a few months also declared they were not keen to retain the Argentine. Of course, sympathy might fade a little after a glance at his pay cheque; Higuain is apparently taking home something close to £300,000-a-week, a wage packet that -- along with his lack of goals -- isn't likely to have potential suitors queuing around the block.

5.) Paul Pogba

When the apocalypse comes, after some nuclear war has wiped out humanity as we know it and the world is rubble and ashes, whatever primitive lifeforms remain will still be arguing over whether Paul Pogba is a social media obsessed chancer or an unappreciated genius. At the time of writing, it seems that Pogba's relationship with Manchester United is only heading one way, and that it would be for the best if he left. But to where? Who will take on his wages, reported to be £290,000-a-week? Whether you think he's great or terrible, everyone can agree he's not a sure thing, and even in today's money-drenched game, if you're paying that sort of dough, you want a sure thing.

4.) Gareth Bale

The man who scored in two Champions League finals has plenty of cause to be annoyed by his treatment at Real Madrid. He seemingly can do no right, with rumours of his lack of integration in the dressing room and Spain in general apparently overshadowing all the good he has done at the Bernabeu. That said, perhaps the vast six-year, £350,000-a-week contract he signed in 2016 doesn't help his popularity, and is the biggest reason he's still at Real, a club seemingly keen to move him and his contract from the moment he signed it. The trouble is, who will take a player on such extraordinary money with a long and well-documented injury history? The answer at the moment seems to be: nobody.

3.) Neymar

You could say that on the list of problems with Neymar, the size of his contract is actually pretty far down. Not turning up for training and a laissez-faire attitude toward teamwork in general are probably bigger issues, but you can be pretty sure that plenty more teams would be queueing up to take him off PSG's hands if his remuneration were a little more reasonable. With a deal worth a reported £775,000-a-week, with which most clubs could pay a decent whole team, Barcelona seem the only club keen to liberate him from his Parisian prison, a prison that is presumably constructed entirely from stacks of cash.

2.) Mesut Ozil

Though they did escape falling into an Alexis Sanchez-shaped hole (see below), Arsenal did trip straight into another one. In fact, after they tripped, they dug a little more and covered themselves with dirt all the way to their noses in giving Mesut Ozil a contract worth around £350,000-a-week in 2018. The error was compounded by the subsequent dithering that saw Aaron Ramsey depart for nothing, Juventus giddily taking advantage while Arsenal were left with a player draining money from their coffers while offering little on the pitch. Fenerbahce were the latest club to reportedly investigate signing Ozil, before looking at the number of zeros on his pay slip and breaking into a cold sweat. Probably.

1.) Alexis Sanchez

Arsenal have received plenty of entirely justified criticism for their handling of contracts and transfer business in the last couple of years, but they certainly dodged a bullet when it came to Alexis Sanchez. Manchester United took a hefty punt on the Chile international, a punt that has sailed high and wide into the crowd, with Sanchez not nearly justifying his basic wage of £350,000-a-week, nevermind a reported appearance bonus of £70,000 and various other juicy clauses. In the real world, you wonder what performances would justify that sort of money, but even in the oddness of football, it's a colossally bloated and, by the looks of things this summer, an entirely unmovable contract.

Russell Westbrook thanked Oklahoma City fans Friday night in a heartfelt Instagram post, saying he is "eternally grateful" for the 11 years he spent in a Thunder uniform.

The Thunder agreed Thursday night to a blockbuster trade to send Westbrook to Houston, reuniting him with former Oklahoma City teammate James Harden. The Rockets will send Chris Paul, two protected first-round picks (2024 and 2026) and two pick swaps (2021 and 2025) to Oklahoma City, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

View this post on Instagram

I can't even begin to put into words all of the emotions I have right now. It's been one heck of a journey Oklahoma! When I came here, I was 18 years old, bright eyed, and completely unaware of all the amazing things that would soon take place. I grew up in Oklahoma with an amazing bunch of people. The people here are what makes this place so special. From the fans, my coaches, my teammates, the entire Thunder organization, Mr. Bennett, Sam Presti, my friends, and everyone in the entire community. You are all what makes Oklahoma such a beautiful place, and the reason I've loved playing here all of this time. You have supported me through all of the ups and the downs, and stood by me through the good times, and tough times. For that I am eternally grateful to you. I've met so many amazing people who have helped shape me into the man that I am today. I hope I have impacted the Oklahoma community as much as Oklahoma has made an impact on me and my family. I'm leaving Oklahoma with so many friends and so much gratitude. I could never thank you all enough for sticking with me. It's been a dream and a whirlwind. #WHYNOT

A post shared by Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) on Jul 12, 2019 at 3:16pm PDT

Meanwhile, Harden appeared at a sneaker event Friday and was asked about the agreed-to trade that will pair the NBA's two highest scorers over the past five seasons: Harden with 11,958 points and Westbrook with 10,025.

"When I left OKC, I was sad. Then Houston made a home for me," Harden said. "Rockets is my home. And now an opportunity came available where Russ wasn't happy. Now we're back. It's going to be a lot of fun this year, I guarantee you that. Believe it."

Westbrook and Harden, two former league MVP guards, were Thunder teammates for three seasons, the last of those being the 2011-12 campaign in which that duo and Kevin Durant took Oklahoma City to the NBA Finals. The Thunder lost in five games to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat, and Harden departed that summer for Houston, where he has been an All-Star ever since.

The Westbrook-Paul swap has not been formally announced, but the Thunder acknowledged Westbrook on their Twitter account.

?#Russ pic.twitter.com/OlVx1K48SJ

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) July 12, 2019

Thunder general manager Sam Presti worked with Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher, to help honor his hopes of playing with the Rockets, league sources said.

"We're excited to have Russell Westbrook," Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta told Fox 26 in Houston on Thursday. "I would watch him play for Oklahoma City, and he's so athletic. At the same time, this franchise just had the two years with the most wins it's ever had in consecutive years, and we wouldn't have accomplished that without Chris Paul. Chris Paul is unbelievable, and he's gonna be sadly missed."

LeBron James won't be giving up his No. 23 to new teammate Anthony Davis after all.

The planned jersey swap for the 2019-20 season has been postponed due to potential production and financial issues with manufacturer Nike, a source told ESPN's Dave McMenamin, confirming a Yahoo! Sports report.

James wore No. 23 during both of his stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and last year in Los Angeles. It's the number Davis wore during his seven seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans.

After the Lakers agreed to a blockbuster trade for Davis last month, James appeared to confirm on social media that he would switch back to No. 6 -- which he wore with Team USA in the Olympics and with the Miami Heat -- while giving No. 23 to Davis.

That swap hit some road blocks in recent weeks.

A league source confirmed to ESPN that the NBA notified the Lakers that a March 15 deadline for jersey changes had passed, but it would waive it if Nike, the league's official outfitter, complied. The company did not, as the unused inventory of No. 23 James jerseys already produced would have led to a financial hit "well into the tens of millions of dollars," a source told ESPN.

James, per the Yahoo! report, thus decided to postpone the jersey change out of what the website called consideration for fans who already purchased his No. 23 and a desire to keep the situation from becoming a distraction.

As of Friday, James had yet to file an official request to change from No. 23 to No. 6 for the 2020-21 season, a league source told McMenamin. James has until March 15, 2020, to do so.

The Lakers will introduce Davis during a news conference on Saturday in El Segundo, California. James is expected to attend.

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright was scratched from his scheduled start against Arizona due to back spasms.

Daniel Ponce de Leon replaced the 37-year-old on Friday night.

A three-time All-Star, Wainwright is 5-7 with a 4.31 ERA in 16 starts this season. The Cardinals did not put him on the injured list, and manager Mike Shildt said he could make his next start as early as Sunday.

Wainwright has a $2 million base salary and has earned a $500,000 bonus for making five starts and $1 million apiece for making 10 and 15 starts. He would earn $1.5 million for 20 and $2 million apiece for 25 and 30.

Ponce de Leon is 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA in three starts and three relief appearances this season.

The Diamondbacks started left-hander Robbie Ray, who is 6-6 with a 3.96 ERA.

The New York Mets have released veteran outfielder Matt Kemp.

Triple-A affiliate Syracuse, with which Kemp had been playing, announced the move Friday.

The Mets signed Kemp, 34, to a minor league contract in May, a few weeks after the Reds released the three-time All-Star. He ended up appearing in eight games for Syracuse as he dealt with a broken rib suffered in April, hitting .235 (8-for-34) with one home run and three RBIs in the minors.

Kemp is a .285 career hitter with 281 homers, 1,010 RBIs and an .822 OPS in 14 major league seasons with the Dodgers, Padres, Braves and Reds. He batted .290 with 21 homers and 85 RBIs in 146 games for Los Angeles last season but struggled after being traded to Cincinnati as part of the Yasiel Puig deal during the offseason.

BUCS champion claims 5000m title in Naples

Britain’s Jess Judd was able to upgrade her bronze medal from two years ago to a gold on day five of the World University Games in Naples.

Judd powered away from Canadian Nicole Hutchinson (15:51.75) and Dutch athlete Julia Van Velthoven (15:51.75) to win the 5000m in 15:45.82.

“I’m so happy,” said Judd. “I’ve done so many championships and I’ve never won, so I really wanted to win.

“I’m just over the moon. It was the most difficult race I’ve been in; I can’t believe I won.

“I keep joking that I’m a lone wolf and I do my own thing, but this week the team have been really nice and they’ve taken me in.

“It’s so great, that meant a lot.”

Brazil continued their good run of sprints medals. Gabriel Constantino took gold in the 110m hurdles in 13.22.

Britain’s Khai Riley-La Borde finished sixth in his semi-final with 13.94.

The day had begun with the women’s 20km race walk, which Australian Katie Hayward won in 93:30. Japan’s Koki Ikeda won the men’s event in 82:49.

Ukrainian Iryna Klymets won the women’s hammer with a throw of 71.25m. Polish athletes Malawia Kopron (70.89m) and Katarzyna Furmanek (69.68m) were second and third.

In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, Moroccan Mounaime Sassioui won in 8:30.24. Briton Mark Pearce was seventh in 8:42.63.

Ukranian Olha Korsun jumped a personal best of 13.90 to take the gold in the triple jump.

A day one athletics report is here, while a day two round-up is here, a day three report here and a day four report here.