Manchester United’s pursuit of Harry Maguire seems to be coming to some kind of conclusion, with the player left out of Leicester’s friendly against Atalanta this evening because he is currently occupying the wrong headspace. United’s latest offer, of £70m plus some bells and whistles, was some way from Leicester’s extraordinary evaluation (which is widely quoted at £85m though today’s Times “can reveal that they want even more for the defender, demanding £95m with £85m up front and a further £10m in add-ons”). Thus the player is marooned and feeling frustrated, per the Telegraph, “that his professional behaviour has not persuaded Leicester to reach a compromise”.
Meanwhile United want Sean Longstaff but value him at half Newcastle’s £50m asking price, and want to sell Romelu Lukaku but value him at nearly twice Internazionale’s £54m highest offer, all of which suggests there’s a lot of optimistic valuation going on. And Real Madrid still haven’t made a genuine move for Paul Pogba, with both Marca and AS having large pictures of Donny van de Beek dominating their front page, agreeing that Real Madrid plan to turn to the €60m-rated Dutchman should their efforts to sign the maverick Frenchman come to nought.
The top news story in Tuttosport is the imminent full-back exchange that will see João Cancelo head for Manchester City and Danilo plus €30m in cold, hard cash come in the other direction. Fabio Paratici, the Italian club’s general manager, “has been fully immersed in English for days,” they report, “between telephone conversations conducted in the language of Shakespeare and trips to London, where he headed yesterday for the second time in a week”. While there he was apparently discussing the sale of Mattia Perin to Aston Villa (presumably unsuccessfully, as they signed Tom Heaton yesterday), monitoring Arsenal and Wolves’ interest in Sami Khedira and negotiating with United over both Paulo Dybala and, somewhat more surprisingly, Mario Mandzukic.
Sporting have rejected a €50m offer from Tottenham for Bruno Fernandes, according to A Bola, but the Mirror reports that Spurs “have now sent two senior officials to Lisbon to try and finalise a deal”, armed according to the Mail with permission to bid £56m (though, according to the Telegraph, “there remains the possibility that Manchester United will spring into action and lodge their own bid now that Tottenham have sent a delegation to Portugal”). Tottenham’s move, says the Mirror, comes after they reluctantly give up on signing their first-choice midfielder, Real Betis’s Giovani Lo Celso, who would cost around £70m. But the Sun says they still plan to make “a last push” for the Argentinian, who they report could be signed for a mere £60m.
Manchester City are demanding that Bayern Munich pay them £145m (the Sun) or £137m (Telegraph/Times) if they are to sell Leroy Sané. “Reports in Germany,” the Telegraph continue, “have claimed Bayern are preparing a bid of around £73m.” So good luck with that.
Liverpool are considering a £20m bid for Bordeaux’s François Kamano, a 23-year-old Guinean striker who scored 13 goals in 51 appearances last season, who Jürgen Klopp hopes will reduce the burden on his first-choice front three while also being relatively cheap. Also shopping in France are Newcastle, who hope to conclude deals for Paris St-Germain’s Moussa Sissako and Nice’s Allan Saint-Maximin before the end of this very day, and have bid £11m for another PSG youngster, the full-back Stanley N’Soki.
Crystal Palace are trying to elbow their way to the front of the queue for Gary Cahill, ahead of Burnley and West Ham, and also want to sign Real Betis’s Victor Camarasa, Everton’s James McCarthy and the Olympiacos right-back Omar Elabdellaoui.
