Having been cleared by in June of breaching those Uefa Financial Fair Play “break even” rules only the most eggheaded forensic accountants really seem to have a handle on, Paris Saint-Germain were subsequently “uncleared” when the chairman of Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body said the decision would be reviewed. Having spent the past two months investigating the French club’s accounts and scribbling sums on the back of a brown envelope, European football’s governing body are due to announce this week whether they have found PSG guilty of shenanigans and their findings could spell good news for Real Madrid.
Reports from Spain suggest that PSG might be prepared to sell either Kylian Mbappé or Neymar in a desperate bid to balance their books and avoid a whopping great fine, a transfer ban or – this will not happen – possible expulsion from the Champions League. This potential misfortune would certainly play into the hands of the Spanish club, who are hoping to make a marquee signing before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Fresh from missing out on a place in France’s World Cup-winning squad, PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot also looks to be heading for pastures new – he doesn’t want a contract extension and is being courted by Milan, Juventus, Roma, Inter and Barcelona. Depending on the nature of Uefa’s announcement this week, PSG could move for Tottenham full-back Danny Rose, who is also being linked with Bundesliga club Schalke.
Fenway Sports Group, owners of Liverpool, have denied their club is up for sale, following reports in the Daily Mail that a cousin of Manchester City frontman Sheik Mansour contacted representatives of FSG and made a £2bn offer for the club almost a year ago. While Liverpool do not deny they were approached by Sheik Khaled Bin Zayed Al Nehayan, they insist the talks were informal and did not directly involve John W Henry or Michael Gordon, the club’s major shareholders.
Elsewhere on Merseyside, Everton manager Marco Silva doesn’t want 20-year-old winger Ademola Lookman to sign for RB Leipzig, who offered £22m for the unsettled player earlier this week following a successful loan spell last season. Eager to play more football, Lookman seems very open to a return to Germany but Silva has described him as Everton’s “present and future”. However, he also said “he is in a big club and has to understand that”, suggesting the youngster will have to get used to life on the first-team fringes.
Silva is less interested in keeping Yannick Bolasie, who is expected to finalise his loan move to Aston Villa, where he will be joined by Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham if Steve Bruce gets his way. After missing out on Bolasie, Middlesbrough are hoping to get Huddersfield winger Rajiv van la Parra in on loan.
And finally, Real Betis have made an official approach to Manchester City with a view to taking Oleksandr Zinchenko to Seville on loan, with an option to make the move permanent. The talented Ukrainian midfielder made just 14 appearances in total for City last season and is likely to find opportunities even more limited now that Benjamin Mendy has returned from injury.
