At last, the Mill can report action on the Jack Grealish front. The winger, left twiddling his thumbs at home while his Manchester City teammates fried at the Copa Gianni, is attracting serious interest from Tottenham, Newcastle and Napoli after City slapped a cut-price £40m yellow sticker on a player who cost them two-and-a-half times that three years ago. The Sun reports that Grealish’s £300,000 weekly wage could prove a sticking point, but the interest in him is real, nor is a move back to Aston Villa ruled out.
It feel as if Hugo Ekitike has been closing in on a Premier League move all summer and Liverpool’s interest in the Eintracht Frankfurt forward – who has been strongly linked with Manchester United – is now being talked up. The English champions are reported to have been in dialogue with Eintracht since April, but have already splurged heavily on strikers in this window. A deal for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi may be likelier, but Liverpool will have to duke it out with Newcastle who, according to GiveMeSport, are confident of winning the race for the defender.
Further forward, Newcastle are also closing in on a £55m deal for Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga. Another winger reported to be heading out of the City Ground is Ramon Sosa, with the Paraguay international set for a £10.25m move back to South America to join Palmeiras. A possible incoming at the City Ground is the Udinese defender Thomas Kristensen. Forest would, however, face competition for the 23-year-old Dane from Bologna, Bournemouth and Wolves, who had a €15m bid for Kristensen rebuffed in January.
A possible St James’ Park outgoing is Sean Longstaff, at whom Leeds are continuing to bat eyelashes. The promoted side have made a third bid for the midfielder of £10m plus £2m in add-ons, according to the Athletic.
Forest’s rival European aspirants Crystal Palace are sniffing around the Italian full-back Davide Calabria, who impressed on loan from Milan at Bologna last season, but has now been released by the Rossoneri. Palace will face competition for the 28-year-old from Spain, mind, with Real Betis, Celta and Mallorca all showing interest.
Staying with Palace, suitors continue to jostle over Eberechi Eze, with the Express reporting a possible raid from Arsenal for their attacking midfielder. Eze, who has been heavily linked with Spurs and lightly linked with Liverpool of late, has a £60m release clause in his contract, which Arsenal plan to circumnavigate by paying in three instalments.
Rangers are reportedly interested in what the veteran PSV Eindhoven striker Luuk de Jong can do to revive their fortunes. De Jong is out of contract and the new Ibrox manager, Russell Martin, is sizing up an ambitious bid, according to Glasgow World. The Gers are also set to unload the defender Leon King to English League One promotion hopefuls Wycombe.
