Joe Mourinho is trying to stop the sale of a Roma star to his former club Tottenham.
But a Spurs midfielder is set to go to Serie A. West Ham have made an offer for a Paris Saint-Germain reject while a Barcelona legend has offered to play for nothing to ease their financial problems.
Chelsea risk being outbid by Nice for a Inter Milan star while a former Blues star - who once caused an international transfer wrangle - is set to go to the MLS or the Gulf.
Here is a roundup of the stories from around Europe today.
Zaniolo deal in doubt
Antonio Conte’s Tottenham had agreed a loan deal for Nicola Zaniolo with the obligation to buy while the Roma midfielder had said yes to a €4.5m contract.
But Corriere dello Sport claims that Mourinho has spoken Zaniolo to convince him to stay to fight for honours this season along with Tammy Abraham and new signing Georginio Wijnaldum- and to the club’s American owners to insist any deal should be a permanent transfer for cash. The Italian sports daily reports the transfer is now up in the air.
Ndombele joins transfer merry-go-round
Napoli are finalising a deal to transfer Spain midfielder Fabian Ruiz to PSG for €20m and are looking for a replacement. Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has been an expensive mistake since his €60m transfer from Olympique Lyonnais in 2019 and returned to the French club on loan in January.
He is under contract until June 2025 and Sky Sport Italia claims the Serie A club wants the Frenchman on loan with an option to buy. Villareal, Lazio and Fiorentina also want Giovani Lo Celso on loan.
West Ham in for German defender
Paris Saint-Germain are looking to get squad players off their massive wage bill with Ander Herrera, Layvin Kurzawą, Julian Draxler, Rafinha and Thilo Kehrer all up for sale, according to Le Parisien.
German international Kehrer is attracting the most interest with the French paper claiming West Ham are interested in the 25-year-old who played 27 matches in Ligue 1 last season as PSG won the title.
Le Parisien also reports that former Manchester United star Herrera, who is under contract until June 2024, is refusing to leave as he earns €650,000 a month.
Pique offers to play for free
By contrast, AS is reporting in Spain that Gerard Pique has met with Barcelona directors to offer to play for nothing this season to ease the Catalan club’s financial problems.
Barcelona are struggling to balance the books after a summer of big spending followed a controversial financial makeover. But the sports daily claims the Blaugrana board, who were forced to release Lionel Messi in 2020, turned down the offer.
New Nice financial power
Chelsea were the unrivalled richest club in Europe at the start of the Roman Abramovich era but the Russian has now gone and other clubs with rich owners - like Jim Ratcliffe at Nice - can now compete in the transfer market.
Sky Sport Italia are claiming that Nice are ready to outbid Chelsea for the €15m signing of Inter Milan teenage midfielder Cesare Casadei. Gaël Kakuta’s signing for Chelsea from Lens in 2007 saw the West London club hit with a FIFA transfer ban before it was overturned by CAS.
The 31-year-old is now back at Lens but La Voix du Nord reports that the Congolese midfielder wants to leave with one year left on his contract to find a club in the MLS or The Gulf.
Juventus to rebuild after sales.
The Turin giants have offloaded Aaron Ramsey to Nice and are finalising a deal to sell Adrien Rabiot to Manchester United.
Now Corriere dello Sport reports that Juventus are in negotiations to sign former Manchester United forward Memphis Depay from Barcelona. The Bianconeri are ready to offer a two-year contract worth around €5m net per season but the Dutchman has to extract himself from the final year of his Camp Nou contract. Gazzetta dello Sport says Juventus also want to sign PSG forward Leandro Paredes.
