Now that he’s finished stockpiling the most fearsome army of full-backs in the known universe, Pep Guardiola is almost ready for an assault on world domination. Not quite yet, though. Manchester City’s squad still has a couple of holes that need to be plugged. We know what Pep’s thinking: make attempt to bring Phillip Lahm out of retirement, there’s our new trequartista sorted. He does love his full-backs. He’s probably mulling over an emotional reunion with Pablo Zabaleta right now. He hasn’t been able to sleep since letting Aleksandar Kolarov join Roma on Sunday. Full-backs. They’re just so versatile, so pliable, so supple, so submissive.
But while Pep’s busy doodling a picture of Héctor Bellerín all over his tactical notes, that’s not the Arsenal player he really needs. Nor is Bellerín the Arsenal player who’s so keen to join City that he’s willing to take a pay cut to force the move through. Step forward Alexis Sánchez, whose concern over regularly sharing a stadium with the kind of strange people who knock up posters about his dogs means that he really wants to get out of Arsenal as soon as possible.
Sánchez isn’t the only one heading for the Emirates exit door. Mohamed Elneny is wanted by Galatasary and Union Jack Wilshere is a target for Antalyaspor, who finished fifth in the Turkish Super Lig last season, after disappointing on loan at Bournemouth. Wilshere would be following in the footsteps of an Antalyaspor legend, Anton Ferdinand, but Arsenal’s asking price might be too high. “We made an enquiry and are in talks but Arsenal want a lot for Wilshere,” the club’s president, Ali Safak Ozturk, said. ”It will be a difficult move to pull off.”
Talking of difficult moves to pull off, Chelsea still haven’t sealed the deal for Alex Sandro. Antonio Conte is close to reaching the end of his tether, at which point he’ll start marching round the Chelsea boardroom handing out citizen’s arrests. What might placate the Italian, however, is that the Blues are still trying to get a deal over the line for the Juventus full-back and they’re also pursuing Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk and Internazionale’s Antonio Candreva.
In today’s crazy world of transfer fees, Everton are close to signing Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson for £45m, and £30m for Mamadou Sakho suddenly doesn’t seem that unreasonable. That’s how much Crystal Palace will have to pay if they want the Liverpool defender back at Selhurst Park. However Watford – or Hull – will have to part with only £8m if they want to take Lazar Markovic off Liverpool’s hands. They’re practically giving him away!
Unlike Leicester City, who aren’t budging on Riyad Mahrez. They’re not interested in Roma’s £20m. Although they might be willing to talk if the Italians chuck in another £10m. £45m for Gylfi, though. Roma can go higher than £30m. This one has saga potential.
Borussia Dortmund want Jadon Sancho from City. Manchester United are still eyeing Bayern Munich’s Renato Sanches, who is apparently a real footballer and not a cautionary figure made up by clubs who want to scare youngsters away from joining one of the big boys too soon.
