Considering the hysteria with which some of their British counterparts have been known to greet even the most mundane tidbit of tittle-tattle, the Rumour Mill can’t even begin to imagine how excitable presenters on the Italian version of Sky Sports News got when reporting that national team manager Antonio Conte was spotted in London on Sunday. What may be an innocent trip to the English capital to visit Madame Tussauds and take in a West End show has automatically been interpreted as proof positive that the Italy boss is on the verge of inking a three-year deal with Chelsea later on Monday, a position he will take up once the Azzurri’s interest in this year’s European Championship comes to an end.
Assuming he signs, as predicted, one of the first items on Conte’s order of business will be to convince Diego Costa that his future lies with Chelsea, rather than with former employers Atlético Madrid, with whom the apparently unsettled striker has recently been linked with a return. Conte is believed to be an ardent admirer of the striker and may be a mite perplexed to learn that France Football are reporting Chelsea have offered him to Paris Saint-Germain. The French news outlet suggests that Costa’s agent Jorge Mendes has touted him as a possible replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose contract with the Ligue 1 champions expires shortly, and goes on to say that PSG chief executive Nasser Al-Khelaifi would almost certainly be open to doing business with Mendes following the success of Ángel Di María’s move to Paris last year.
With Costa on their books until June 2019, the final say over whether he stays at Stamford Bridge or not ultimately lies with Chelsea, who will also be mindful of the fact that Mr Mendes is the type of guy a club of their stature needs to keep sweet. Besides, they’ll have a new striker in Edison Cavani, who’ll be leaving PSG to make way for any new goalscoring arrivals.
With Romelu Lukaku looking increasingly likely to leave Everton, the Merseyside club have shortlisted under-used Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony as a potential replacement. Bony has scored just four goals in 19 Premier League appearances at Manchester City this season and has also been linked with West Ham.
In an interview with TalkSport on Sunday, former Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón was interviewed and claimed that “apparently there is some agreement” between Manchester United and Real Madrid that means David de Gea will go to the Spanish club at the end of the season, although he did add the caveat that he doesn’t “have personal knowledge of that”.
The Rumour Mill doesn’t have personal knowledge of Renato Sanches’s plans for the future, but that isn’t going to stop us reporting that Manchester United have offered Benfica £40m for their 18-year-old midfielder. The Star reports that Manchester United have also added Everton midfielder Ross Barkley to their summer shopping list and are ready to give Everton £45m for the 22-year-old from Wavertree.
Representatives of West Ham, Liverpool and Tottenham are hitching up their skirts and winking suggestively at Crystal Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie, while Manchester City have loaded the tubes of their Transfer U-boat as they prepare to torpedo Everton, Liverpool and Arsenal’s bids for Andriy Yarmolenko out of the water. Everton and Liverpool are also preparing to duke it out in a battle to secure the services of Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, who scored twice for his side in a 3-1 win over Lorient at the weekend, to move them up to third in the Ligue 1 table and just 28 points behind PSG.
And finally, Watford fans will be none too pleased to hear that West Ham have their beady eye on striker Odion Ighalo, while 20-year-old Ajax winger Anwar El Ghazi could find himself the subject of a £12m bid from Spurs.
