Local Lyon newspaper Le Progrès say there has not been and will not be any progress in Liverpool’s efforts to sign Nabil Fekir, according to the Mirror. The World Cup winning midfielder had been the subject of well documented interest from Jürgen Klopp, who has already embarked on quite the summer trolley dash by spending £123m on Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson.
Last week, the German hinted that he was no longer particularly fussed about signing Fekir, whose chairman at Lyon has announced his club would rather hang on to its best players in the hope of mounting a serious tilt at the Champions League. “This summer we are trying to keep our best players,” said Jean-Michel Aulas. “Nabil is a world champion, he is Lyonnais, we will be in the Champions League. It would be a bit of a shame if we could not keep him now.” With the player reported to be hell bent on securing a move, expect that one to run and run.
Manchester United are ready to splurge £65m on Harry Maguire, but will need to ship out one of their current central defenders to free up funds for the Leicester City defender. Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling are all on tenterhooks. United are also being linked with a move for Chelsea’s Brazil winger Willian, but will have to better Barcelona’s £65m offer for the 29-year-old to get him. Anthony Martial wants to leave Manchester United and Chelsea would quite like to offer him a new home, but reports from the Guardian’s man on the Manchester beat suggest the 22-year-old could be sold just not to another Premier League club.
Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish remains determined to leave Aston Villa for Tottenham Hotspur despite last week’s £55m investment in the Midlands club by the billionaire businessmen Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris. Villa will ask for £30m for their star player, who is also being courted by Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Half a good season at Vicarage Road has convinced Everton that spending £50m on Brazilian winger Richarlison is is a risk worth taking and the 21-year-old is expected to cough for the doctors at Goodison Park later on Monday after leaving Watford’s pre-season training camp in Austria. Everton are also being linked with Barcelona central defender Yerry Mina, who impressed while playing for Colombia at the World Cup.
Croatia full-back Domagoj Vida and his blond undercut could be Liverpool bound if reports that the Merseyside outfit are to hold talks with Besiktas over the 29-year-old’s future are to be believed, while João Moutinho is expected to leave Monaco for the Portuguese enclave of Wolverhampton in exchange for £6m.
And finally, to Italy, where Inter will have to shell out £27m to prise Arturo Vidal from Bayern Munich and Juventus are reported to be intent on re-signing Paul Pogba from Manchester United if they lose Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona or Manchester City.
