A picture posted by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha – it’s easier if you say it quickly – of the Thai businessman with Riyad Mahrez should finally put all that transfer talk and tittle-tattle to bed, right? Mahrez is not for sale say Leicester City, forcing Arsène Wenger to slump back into his fine antique armchair and admit he will have to look elsewhere this summer. Wenger’s eyes have been drawn to the Balearic Sea, and to Valencia after narrowly avoiding the rigmarole of Magaluf and San Antonio Bay.
Although nowhere near as mouthwatering, the prospect of the Germany international Shkodran Mustafi marauding down the right flank at the Emirates is probably the next best thing. The Valencia right-back is keen on putting pen to paper in a move that would spell the end for Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers. Talking of exciting defenders joining the club, West Brom’s Jonny Evans has been cherry-picked from a list of average Premier League defenders to play alongside Gabriel on the opening day of the season. At another La Liga club, Real Madrid are counting out a stash of devalued euro notes from Florentino Pérez’s briefcase, as they prepare a now pretty bog-standard £55m bid for the Bayern Munich midfielder David Alaba.
Liverpool’s Melwood training ground has quietened down with Mamadou Sakho and Mario Balotelli ordered to tone it down around the place. But it’s not been enough and Jürgen Klopp just wants rid of Balotelli, with Ajax said to be happy to take on the wacky Italy striker.
Chelsea are working tirelessly to re-sign Romelu Lukaku – after letting him go all too easily first time around. The Belgium striker is thought to have been offered a new deal worth almost £135,000, rendering the idea of joining Antonio Conte’s squad almost pointless. If Lukaku does opt out, Sporting Lisbon striker Islam Slimani has found his passport and booked himself a flight fit with speedy boarding into Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, with Ronald Koeman lining up a £16.5m bid to bring the 28-year-old to Everton.
Meanwhile, Santos star Thiago Maia has hopes of emulating Marvin Sordell after watching the then Bolton striker explode onto the scene at the last Olympics, kind of. Sordell is now at Coventry City while Maia – a target for Chelsea – is in Brazil before the Rio Games officially open later on Friday.
After a miserable season with Aston Villa, Joleon Lescott could be offered an escape route by former no-nonsense centre-half Garry Monk at Leeds United. In truth, Lescott will never recover from throwing a picture of his £125,000 sports car into the wonderful world of social media – by accident.
And in quite literally the biggest transfer this summer, the former England striker Peter Crouch could swap Stoke for the Midlands and agent Jorge Mendes’s Wolves revolution at Molineux.
