Gianluigi Donnarumma, the 18-year-old Milan goalkeeper, has “told pals he is heading to the Premier League”, prompting massive excitement at Manchesters City and United and allowing the Sun to wheel out the headline “Donna summer” as they report his imminent transfer. Apparently it might cost as little as £20m to snaffle the glove-toting tyro, whose current contract expires in a year. The current incumbent at Old Trafford, David de Gea, is so likely to leave that his 20-year-old understudy Joel Pereira is set to play in the final home game of the season, against Crystal Palace next week, but his departure would leave a massive talent-hole that only a signing of Donnarumma’s ilk could possibly fill. On the plus side, Real Madrid are so desperate to secure De Gea that they are now offering James Rodríguez in part-exchange, according to Diario Gol. “For the moment no precise figures have been mentioned, though Real’s interest is absolute,” they write. “There will be no problem in producing the chequebook to complete the deal.”
But according to Don Balón, Rodríguez has stipulated that he will only agree to the Manchester move on the condition that United qualify for the Champions League. Following their defeat to Tottenham means that in order to buy the 25-year-old United must beat Ajax in the Europa League final – and that won’t be those two clubs’ only battle in the coming weeks. Their representatives are also set to vie for the services of the 23-year-old Malmo striker Pawel Cibicki, a player who is also a target for Napoli, Celta Vigo and Real Betis and would cost somewhere in the region of £7.5m.
Even if Rodríguez leaves Madrid this summer, the city is not going to be Colombian-free for long: both Atlético and Real, plus Barcelona and a variety of other clubs across Europe, are keen on the Ajax defender Davinson Sánchez. Diego Simeone has already given his blessing to the move, with the Dutch side expecting to receive between £25m and £30m for the 6ft 2in 20-year-old, signed from Atlético Nacional a year ago for just £4.2m.
“Arsène Wenger has a huge shopping list,” reports the Express, who say the Arsenal manager will remain at the club to oversee their search for “a striker, a winger, a central defender, a left-back and a goalkeeper”. Riyad Mahrez and Ben Gibson are both on said huge list, but less encouragingly both carry enormous £30m asking prices at which the club’s bigwigs may balk. The Algerian would most like to move to Real Madrid, but those dreams seem certain to be shattered: Zinedine Zidane has apparently already discussed and dismissed the idea of bringing him to Spain.
One player more likely to be Iberia-bound is Héctor Bellerín, with Arsenal busy discussing terms with Barcelona over the full-backs departure. They would like £34m in cold hard cash, but with Barça considering that a little de trop it may be that they send some players the other way instead of stumping up all the cash. Arda Turan is one of the names being considered, with the Spanish side amenable to the possibility of him leaving, but Arsenal would also like to get Marc Cucurella. This opens up the intriguing possibility of Arsenal signing a highly-rated teenage Barcelona full-back, watching him blossom to such an extent that his old club want him back, and then swapping him for a big bag of cash, a big-name international midfielder and another highly-rated teenage Barcelona full-back, whereupon the entire routine can begin again. The circle of life. Alternatively, the Catalans might give up on the whole deal and steal Benfica’s Nélson Semedo from under Manchester City’s noses instead.
