It’s still two days before the Premier League returns but Liverpool have already been beaten by Manchester City this week. The Reds need a new goalkeeper and had their hearts set on Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen but the former Borussia Mönchengladbach stopper has other ideas.
The Barcelona No2 will spend the summer as the Germany No2 before heading to Manchester to become City’s No2, with Pep Guardiola’s presence enough to swing the deal City’s way. He’ll cost around £20m.
And speaking of City, Manuel Pellegrini should not be out of work for too long when he departs the Etihad in the summer. Having seen just how successful a Manchester stalwart can be at the Mestalla, Valencia want the Chilean to replace the departed Gary Neville in the close season.
Pellegrini would seem to be the favourite, though there are some suggestions that Valencia are trying to persuade José Mourinho to forget about Old Trafford and instead return to Spain. That would send the usually so well-oiled and efficient Manchester United transfer machine into a bit of a spin as they’ve already lined up some Mourinho-esque signings – Internazionale’s Colombian centre-back Jeison Murillo, a snip at £14m, and Benfica’s Renato Sanches, who would put more of a dent in the bank balance at £50m.
Away from the north-west, we head to the only other place the Mill seems to find any tittle-tattle about these days – London. Specifically north London, where Tottenham want the Mainz midfielder Yunus Malli. The Turkey international would cost around £10m.
Though that deal may be straightforward, Spurs face a derby duel over Schalke’s Roman Neustädter, with Arsenal also sniffing around the midfielder. It’ll be a busy summer for the Gunners – not only do they want Henrik Mkhitaryan, Granit Xhaka and Raphael Guerrero, they’re also keen on Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos and Southampton’s Victor Wanyama.
And finally West Ham are on the verge of landing 18-year-old striker Toni Martínez from Valencia for a cut-price £750,000.
