The race is on to become the first signing of the Unai Emery era at Arsenal. Sokratis Papastathopoulos is the favourite, as the big centre-back is on the verge of completing a £16m transfer from Borussia Dortmund. But coming up quickly on the rail is Marouane Fellaini, who might favour a move to London over Milan. Papastathopoulos has reportedly snubbed José Mourinho to join the Emery revolution, so Manchester United fans can file this whole bundle under Swings/Roundabouts.
Claude Puel is still at Leicester City. His last roll of the dice involves sanctioning the transfer of Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City, but only if he gets 21-year-old winger Patrick Roberts in return. Roberts, who has been hoovering up trophies in Scotland with Celtic, would cover £15m of Mahrez’s £75m price tag. The Foxes also want Abdulkadir Omur, an 18-year-old striker at Trabzonspor.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool can come together as one in celebration of Zinedine Zidane’s recent resignation as Real Madrid manager. Zidane had been planning on a raid on the Premier League for Eden Hazard, David de Gea and Sadio Mané. But now? Well, the window doesn’t shut for another three months and there are still plenty of column inches to fill, so let’s rule nothing out.
In the meantime, there’s still a managerial vacancy at the Bernabéu to fill. Antonio Conte, Arsène Wenger and Max Allegri are all in the mix, though Real haven’t given up on Mauricio Pochettino quite yet.
Conte is still at Chelsea, of course. But he’ll be ousted in favour of Laurent Blanc any day soon, according to underwhelming reports.
Southampton don’t fancy another relegation scrape, and will sign rare Stoke City success story Xherdan Shaqiri for £12m … unless Tottenham Hotspur nip in first.
Crystal Palace don’t fancy another relegation scrape, and will offer Christian Benteke to anyone that’s interested. No takers yet.
And Cardiff City will announce themselves to the Premier League by signing Everton striker Oumar Niasse and Besiktas midfielder Tolgay Arslan.
.jpg?w=600)
