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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Nick Ames

Transfer liveblog: Oxlade-Chamberlain to Chelsea, Keïta has Liverpool medical – as it happened

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Chelsea have reportedly agreed a fee with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Photograph: Matt West/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

That will do for today

We began by admiring the public-spiritedness of Barry Glendenning and Jonathan Wilson; we finished with some fairly meaty football stories. It’s a broad church. So here’s a roundup of the day’s most important news:

There will be much more of this tomorrow, brought to you by the fair hand of Nick Miller. I’ll be back on Wednesday; in the meantime thanks a lot for all your tweets, emails and remarks – it’s been a hoot.

Updated

If we’re wondering why Oxlade-Chamberlain wants to leave Arsenal, perhaps one reason is that he doesn’t want to suffer the same fate as his fellow Southampton alumnus Theo Walcott. Walcott will be 29 this season; if one person can tell me he’s achieved what he should have, I’d like to hear from them. It’s downhill from now – that’s the sad truth – and he should have left Arsenal two or three years ago to become a leading man elsewhere. I think he’s been too comfortable. Oxlade-Chamberlain is 24. He has a number more strings to his bow than Walcott, admittedly, but probably still has to make this move in order to avoid becoming him.

Cech and Gallas both did/have done OK since moving but the trend is undeniable, yes.

The last player to move from Arsenal to Chelsea, by the way? Their much-loved former left-back, Ashley Cole ...

Is he destined to be a utility man for the rest of his career, then?

They do need to get a few “in the building” now.

More on Oxlade-Chamberlain from Dominic Fifield

Chelsea have kick-started a frantic scramble for reinforcements in the final week of the summer transfer window by agreeing a fee with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with the player potentially the first of three England internationals destined for Stamford Bridge before Thursday’s cut-off.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has entered the final 12 months of his contract at the north London club, had been offered new and improved terms to commit his future to the club, but made clear towards the end of last week that his preference was to seek a new challenge elsewhere. Arsenal are not prepared to lose Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez under freedom of contract next summer and, given the lack of suitors for the German and the hierarchy’s intransigence over the prospect of selling Sanchez this summer, that always left the Englishman as the likeliest to depart.

Liverpool had also been interested in Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had been secured from Southampton back in 2011, but the 24-year-old’s preference was always to remain in the capital. Personal terms are unlikely to prove an issue, with Antonio Conte hoping a versatile player will challenge Victor Moses at right wing-back and bolster his midfield options with a Champions League campaign ahead. A fee of around £35m had been mooted for his signature.

Oxlade-Chamberlain could yet be joined at Stamford Bridge by Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater, with talks ongoing between the clubs over his switch to the Premier League champions. There is interest, too, in Ross Barkley at Everton – the attacking midfielder is currently in rehabilitation from a torn hamstring, and will not be available until the new year – while Swansea City are braced for a bid for the Spain forward, Fernando Llorente. Chelsea’s young forward Jeremie Boga has signed a new three-year contract and become the 28th player to be loaned out by the club this summer, joining Birmingham City in the Championship for the remainder of the season.

Where do you see Oxlade-Chamberlain slotting in then, Chelsea types? Will he get the gig he wants in the middle? Can he perhaps be the mixture of Fabregas and Kante that Conte craves?

Matt Loten writes: “Does the loan of Jeremie Boga to Birmingham - who, let’s not forget, were only the 19th best team in the Championship last season - lend further weight to the argument that Antonio Conte’s starting lineup on the opening day was indeed a pointed message to the board? Though of course Boga was unlucky that Cahill’s red card effectively ended his game against Burnley, if he has only been deemed worthy of a Championship loan it would suggest that Conte wasn’t exactly expecting to utilise him regularly this season.”

Possibly, although for me it just makes yet further mockery of the idea that Chelsea don’t have enough players.

Via our man Dominic Fifield, we can confirm that news about Oxlade-Chamberlain – more to come ...

Kevin Wimmer has passed his medical at Stoke, so goes the latest news. And Birmingham have signed Chelsea midfielder Jeremie Boga on loan – some meat on the bones for ‘Arry there.

Thing is, Arsenal are going to have to bring some players in now aren’t they? I don’t think for one moment that Oxlade-Chamberlain is indispensable. I don’t think Mustafi, should that Inter rumour be right, is either. But I’d have thought the players they could have done with moving on more are yer Calum Chamberses and yer Joel Campbells (yep, he’s still there). It strikes me that they are in a bit of a mess unless some drastic surgery is made this week – and will even that be enough?

I do wonder how much good it does to create these slightly fawning personas around players before they’ve ever actually done anything. “The Ox”. Maybe someone will relieve Arsenal of “The Jeff” (that’s Jeffrey Reine-Adelaide, to prove my point) as well.

Updated

Now how about this: Sky say Chelsea have agreed a fee with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Presumably they turned a blind eye to yesterday’s dialled-in performance at Anfield. But it’s been clear enough that “The Ox” is probably off and it looks as if he’s making a move to the other side of London! Any thoughts?

Here’s some fresh fun for you: Football Weekly! Messrs Rushden, Glendenning, Wilson and MacInnes chew the fat. Hopefully there’ll be some extra light shed on that Boris Bike incident too:

Why won’t Charlie Nicholas take his jacket off?

Charlie Nicholas

Just under an hour til I leave you. It’s been a slightly more eventful day than expected so far, no? Not too late to get your observations in.

Sean Doyle suggests: “I think it’s pretty clear Liverpool have plenty of spare cash. The Keita transfer is hardly dependent on money raised from a Coutinho transfer. Seems to me that the move for Keita is move pre-empting Can’s possible departure.”

Well that would be a shame if you’re right, Sean, as Can is getting better and better. He’s just 23, only a year older than Keita, and I think people forget that. Against Arsenal yesterday he was sensational, even if the opposition weren’t up to anything.

Here’s an agency take on Ousmane Dembele’s unveiling at Barcelona today. I think we have more coming on this later:

Done deal – Newcastle sell Siem de Jong back to Ajax

Not a big one really, or not an unexpected one anyway. De Jong spent last season on loan at PSV but returns to his first club. He only made 26 appearances for Newcastle after arriving in 2014, scoring twice. Bad luck with injuries is a reason for that, to be fair.

This is an interesting point from Tony Barr:

“I see the Keita deal as Liverpool planning ahead for when they sell Coutinho next summer. Much has been made of their early form without Lil’ Phil, to use his rapper name, but given Liverpool’s schedule it makes no sense to cave to Barca this late in the window.

“I can’t blame him for having his head turned either, but hope he stays mature enough to play for his dream transfer next summer. I think he’ll actually benefit from not being regarded as the silver bullet by his team-mates now they know they can do it without him. The question is, what if both he and Keita have terrible seasons and Barca haven’t committed? Perhaps Liverpool also hope to seal a pre-purchase agreement with the Catalans.”

Good questions here. Is it a case of one for the other though? I have Keita down as more of a dynamo who speeds things up between the boxes, albeit he’s certainly creative too.

James Gerard on Seri: “Shaun Wilkinson is right that I can’t just refuse to go to work because it won’t be fun. But I can take up an offer from another employer, which is what Seri wants to do, as long as I serve a notice period. Footballers do have a strange employment status.”

“To be clear, is the Keita-to-Liverpool a buy-and-loan-back, or a “we’ll buy him later but don’t sell him to anyone else”? How does this stuff work? You know, in like a few words, because why should you have to spend all afternoon with that question?” writes Drew Gough.

Don’t worry Drew, I’ve been here six and a half hours already so what’s another minute to answer this. I don’t know how all the legal stuff works but broadly it’s the second thing you say – they’ve done a deal to do the deal, if you like, and I can’t see that anybody will be able to disrupt it now.

We were talking a lot about Monaco this morning, weren’t we? Here’s why they think they can win the title despite all those departures:

You have an excellent memory.

Don’t forget that our incredibly nifty Transfer Window interactive tool helps you track all of the spending in Europe’s major leagues:

From Shaun Wilkinson: “‘I did not play for Nice this weekend because football should be about joy and I did not feel this.’ Do you think the rest of us can try that one? ‘Sorry, I am not bothering to turn up to work tomorrow. I know you pay to do so, but I do not feel the joy.’ Footballers ... ”

Updated

I’m about to nip downstairs for a coffee but before I do, here are some quotes from the Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri – who had believed he was about to sign for Barcelona last week, but didn’t and is now absolutely seething:

“Nice did not deliver on their promises, I’m very hurt. I’m not going to lie - I feel awful. I did not play for Nice this weekend because football should be about joy and I did not feel this. My dream of joining Barcelona has been broken and this is terrible for me.

“From what I understand, the deal did not go through because of financial reasons and that makes me very sad. I was stunned to hear negotiations had broken down after my talk with Barcelona officials the previous evening, I was shattered. It was incomprehensible to me so the next day I went to the offices at Nice and I exploded with anger, honestly, the walls were trembling!

“The leaders of my club could not tell me anything, they could not even look me in the eye. I played against Napoli out of loyalty to my team-mates, this was not their fault but honestly I don’t know what will happen now.”

Those quotes are courtesy of El Mundo Deportivo. Not a happy chap, is he?

Updated

Tim Woods writes: “I have nothing much to add on Naby Keita, having never seen him play (although will address that this year), but I have been to Guinea. It’s a very beautiful country, and most people seem to support Barcelona or Real Madrid. Not great for vegetarians.”

Imagine there’ll be a few more Liverpool shirts on the streets of Conakry soon. They could always use their old Titi Camara ones, I guess ....

Updated

I like this question. But I can’t answer it.

Here is a full take from Andy Hunter on that Keita deal – and Liverpool’s Lemar interest:

Another curveball imminent – remember Ravel Morrison? He’s being linked with a move to Atlas FC in Mexico! He is still on Lazio’s books but has no future there, and nothing appeared to come of interest from Birmingham during the summer. It’d be quite a step for him ...

Just on that Stuart James post – you saw that, right? Renato Sanches? Possibly to Swansea?

It does give them time to replace him, although they could perhaps have done that two month ago. Most likely they just want another year of a top-class player – so they’d better hope he is focused.

Swansea are hoping to complete two, possibly three, signings before the transfer window closes, with a chunk of the Gylfi Sigurdsson money still available to spend. A move for Nacer Chadli is not out of the question despite Swansea cooling their interest, although West Bromwich Albion would have to lower their £25m asking price for a player who is unable to get into their team and not on the best of terms with Tony Pulis, the head coach, after a fall-out during pre-season.

A deal remains in place for Wilfried Bony should Swansea wish to press the button and re-sign the Ivorian from Manchester City. Swansea, though, have other irons in the fire to cover both Bony’s and Chadli’s positions and are also looking at strengthening defensively.

One of the more unlikely moves of the summer would see Renato Sanches, the Portugal international, swap Bayern Munich for Swansea – the bookmakers have made the Welsh club second favourites to sign the talented 19-year-old. Paul Clement, Swansea’s head coach, retains strong links with Bayern Munich, where he previously worked as Carlo Ancelotti’s No2, and has spoken in the past about trying to use his contacts across Europe. Yet the only way a deal for Sanches to Swansea has any chance of coming off is if all parties agree to a season-long loan and there are no better offers on the table for the player from higher-profile clubs (the word on Merseyside is that Liverpool are not, as things stand, interested in signing Sanches, despite speculation to the contrary).

Swansea’s transfer business over the last few days will also be influenced to some extent by Fernando Llorente’s future. Chelsea’s interest in Llorente is genuine and long-running, although it is understood that Swansea have not received an official offer for the Spaniard this summer. Llorente would be very much an Antonio Conte signing, rather than a Chelsea signing, and no more than a back-up player at Stamford Bridge. There are also doubts within Chelsea as to whether Llorente would fit into the club’s style of play and questions over the merits of signing someone who is aged 32. Conte, though, has worked with Llorente before, at Juventus, and clearly feels that a striker who scored 15 Premier League goals for Swansea last season could be a useful squad player at Chelsea.

Clement reiterated on Saturday, after Swansea’s win over Crystal Palace, that he is confident of keeping Llorente, but he also said that “all of a sudden something can come out of absolutely nowhere”.

Updated

I’ve just received a fascinating dispatch from Stuart James about Swansea’s potential dealings, with one particularly eye-catching name in there. I’ll put it up in a minute ...

Interested in Liverpool fans’ – and Leipzig fans’ – views on this. Is Keita worth the wait? Will a drawn-out goodbye in Saxony suit anybody? One thing I think is true having watched him a fair bit: he’s a heck of a player.

Keita – it's on – from our own Andy Hunter

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Naby Keita from Red Bull Leipzig next summer and are interested in signing Thomas Lemar from Monaco before this week’s transfer window closes on Thursday. Keita, Jurgen Klopp’s prime midfield target for this summer, has undergone a medical in England today ahead of finalising the terms of a transfer that will see Liverpool pay a premium on his £48m release clause. That clause only comes into effect at the end of this season and Leipzig have refused to consider selling the midfielder in this window.

Klopp is also an admirer of Lemar, although Liverpool have yet to make a bid for the 21-year-old. Arsenal have been long-term admirers of the France international but have been told Monaco will not sell this summer. That may also apply to Liverpool’s interest but the Anfield club are expected to test Monaco’s resolve with a club record offer of around £60m in the coming days.

Updated

Well, well, well ...

I said in my write-up of Arsenal’s Community Shield draw with Chelsea that they looked underdone, particularly in defence, and it caused a bit of upset below the line but can anyone really argue now?

Ozgur Celtikci is back with a rather more informed take on reported West Brom target Josef de Souza:

“I’m sure Mr Pulis is keen on a defender but Josef de Souza is a central midfield enforcer who has played as a right-back for only a handful of games in his native Brazil. I have not seen him play as a defender for Fenerbahce or Porto in a total of four-and-a-half seasons spent in Portugal and Turkey.

“Fener ex-manager Dick Advocaat didn’t even give him a chance as a stand-in centre-back when both Skrtel and Kjær were injured last season - his partner in the pivot, Mehmet Topal, got the nod instead. So, I don’t really get how he would fit in as a defender in that Albion squad. If they think of him as a potential Evans replacement, they need to have a big big look at their scouting team.”

Cheerio, Barry. The man has more good deeds to do. This Mustafi thing then ... there’s a rumour going around on Twitter that he may be heading to Inter Milan on loan. Odd one if it happens, no? Or perhaps not – I quite like Mustafi but is he really the dominant defender Arsenal need? If they can get a replacement in I think it’d be good business. But they’ve sold Gabriel too ...

Thats’s all from me, folks. I will hand you back over to Nick Ames, who has an interesting update on the future of Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi.

Ousmane Dembele
Ousmane Dembélé has been presented as a Barcelona player, after finalising his £96m move from Borussia Dortmund to Camp Nou. Photograph: Manu Fernandez/AP

Updated

Benedikt Höwedes to Juventus? Schalke have confirmed that Juventus have made an approach to sign the World Cup-winning defender, but they have turned down the bid. Howedes wants to leave the Bundesliga club, where he is surplus to requirements after 16 years on their books, to get regular first team football and keep his hopes of representing Germany in the next World Cup alive. Schalke want to sell him and value the player at €18m, but so far Juventus have only offered to take him on loan. Höwedes has also been linked with a move to Liverpool.

Done deal klaxon! Pictures are circulating in cyberspace of Andriy Yarmolenko posing with a Borussia Dortmund shirt. The 25-year-old winger has been linked with the German side for years, but has finally signed from Dynamo Kyiv. €25m was the fee being bandied about as news that a deal was close circulated earlier today.

It’s international break time II It being international break time with the transfer window closing, expect no shortage of unsettled and disgruntled Premier League players to give local, sympathetic journalists in their own countries revealing interviews in which they voice their dissatisfaction with life ... before coming home to discover their comments have been picked up by the British press and subsequently claim they either (a) said no such thing or (b) have been hideously quoted out of context.

It’s international break time: It’s difficult to know exactly how this will affect the logistics of getting last-minute transfers over the line, with players scattered around Europe and beyond with medicals need to be undertaken and contracts inked. For example, Scotland travel to Lithuania this week, England go to Malta and Northern Ireland will be in San Marino, with all three teams set to play on Friday, the day after the window closes.

Wilson speaks: On the episode of Football Weekly we recorded earlier - spoiler alert! - Jonathan Wilson said it is his opinion that Chelsea will sign three new players before the transfer window closes: Danny Drinkwater, Fernando Llorente and one other. He also suggested that Tottenham HOtspur or some other Premier League side should make a cheeky £35m bid for Paris Saint-Germain winger Angel Di Maria.

I am reasonably confident, as it was a woman, although she may well have been on her way to sign for one of London’s many Women’s Premier League teams. QPR Women would probably be the nearest to Guardian Towers - Loftus Road is a 44-minute cycle away, according to Google Maps, although our new friend could probably get there more quickly due to reduced traffic congestion on this Bank Holiday Monday.

Updated

More on Juan Foyth: Anyone looking for more information on Tottenham Hotspur’s new signing, Juan Foyth, could do worse than take a few minutes to read this scouting report on Bleacher Report.

“Without wanting to place too lazy a comparison on his shoulders—Foyth is Foyth, his own man, after all—he resembles the Argentinian version of John Stones,” says the report, before going on to praise the teenager’s poise and bravery on the ball, as well as his willingness to get involved in physical battles.

Of course, perhaps the most ringing endorsement of all is that his new manager, a fairly decent and uncompromising Argentinian centre-half himself, rates him highly enough to take him to Spurs.

Juan Hoyth
Tottenham Hotspur’s new Argentinian defender Juan Hoyth competing at the Under-20 World Cup. Photograph: Robert Cianflone - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

Countdown to deadline day: For anyone wondering - and I suspect most of you wonder about little else - exactly how long it is until the transfer window slams shut: three days, nine hours and 42 minutes.

Good day to everyone. Barry Glendenning here, fresh from recording today’s Football Weekly podcast, which will be available for your aural pleasure in a few hours ... and may also contain the full low-down on how exactly myself and Jonathan Wilson helped a young German tourist to successfully rent a Boris bike, despite neither of us having ever hired or cycled one before. I’ll be here to answer your transfer bike hire-related queries while Nick Ames finds a dark corner and has a lie-down for an hour.

With that, I’m going for some lunch and will leave you with Barry Glendenning, one of our Good Samaritans from this morning, for the next little while. If you’re lucky he might tell you exactly how he and Wilson helped the confused party into the saddle.

Done deal? Maybe! Are Tottenham getting their act together as demanded by Chris Brown? Sky’s yellow ticker has whirred into action with tidings that they’ve agreed a deal with Estudiantes for defender Juan Foyth. He is a 19-year-old centre-back so presumably “one for the future”. Anyone know anything more?

Tony Pulis would like to sign another defender. Apparently he’s keen on bringing Fenerbahce’s Josef de Souza to West Brom. De Souza has three caps for Brazil!

A big ask but you’d expect they’ll get several done. Pochettino’s biggest problem has been signing the right squad players. He’s not managed it yet.

Been linked with a move to the Riverside, apparently. All jokes aside, get well soon.

‘Arry Redknapp’s down to the bare bones at Birmingham – but can he get a deal for Torino’s highly-rated midfielder Afriyie Acquah over the line at last? Talks have been dragging on, but the deal does not appear to be dead ...

One deal that could go through today: Tottenham’s Kevin Wimmer is expected to sign for Stoke any time soon. Stoke will have a lot of centre-backs.

If you like graphs, this tells a lot about the transfer madness that has enveloped us:

Michael Hunt wonders whether someone else should have taken a serious look at Mbappe:

“Now we’re established that Mbappe is worth every penny (in providing an excuse for Hanson soundtracks to football highlights if nothing else), is there any reason anyone can think of why Barca aren’t lobbing good money his way? They need to score PR points as much as anything against both PSG and Real and this would represent both. Too similar a prospect to Dembele as a speedy French kid with one good season and a terrifying price tag? Maybe, but the two of them are a slightly intimidating prospect to add to the Messi and Suarez axis.”

Sky say Tottenham are closing in on their move for Serge Aurier, and are also looking for another forward. Why are they leaving this so late? It is costing them, as their early results surely prove.

Will Newcastle land Rafa’s targets in this window? A few reports going around suggesting they’re in for Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Viðar Kjartansson, the Iceland international. He has a good domestic goalscoring record in five different countries but just the one for his national team.

Meanwhile, in Scotland ...

Ozgur Celtikci is back with some thoughts on Diego Costa: “Is it just me who feels a team in the mould of Zenit, Besiktas or Fenerbahce (aka ‘lavishly-spending little-achieving eastern powerhouses’) might pick him up on a season-long loan on the very last day of the transfer window for a hefty amount? Apparently, he’s yearning for a permanent move to Atlético but that is clearly not happening and we’ve seen stranger things happen before.”

Or could China be back in the mix?

A couple of you wanting more information on the nature of the assistance granted by Messrs Wilson and Glendenning to the puzzled would-be cyclist at 11.38. As far as I could tell Glendenning was the more proactive of the pair, offering advice on how to work the machine, while Wilson took on a more pastoral role with some hand movements and some studied examination of the bikes themselves.

Enough to keep FdB in work?

Now this is interesting, and also involves PSG – a report suggests Leicester would like to bring in Grzegorz Krychowiak to replace the possibly Chelsea-bound Danny Drinkwater.

Never say this isn’t a circus!

“Does Jay Rodriguez count as under-the-radar?” asks David Wall. “He’s an international player, bought for a pretty low fee, and who was doing excellently at Southampton before his injury problems. Wasn’t he being considered by the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, and for more than West Brom paid this summer, a couple of years ago?”

Yep, decent one. I think Rodriguez needed a move. Whether he will be able to express himself enough at West Brom – he’s decent technically – will be borne out with the passage of time but he also has good physical attributes and a willingness to play all across the front line. Put his head in there well for that goal yesterday, too.

Something more for you transfer sleuths: Mbappe’s Twitter bio no longer mentions Monaco – even if his picture does. This is what we have all become.

In this Twitter thread lies some uproarious trolling from PSG, in “conversation” with their own player Thomas Meunier. There’s some news involving the letter “M”, it transpires ... but what can it be? Turns out they were trailing the 35th birthday of Thiago Motta. M is for Motta. Not Mbappe. Larks!

Updated

Another thing we will all enjoy later today, of course, is the new edition of Football Weekly. I’ve just spent five minutes watching from the second floor window at Kings Place as Barry Glendenning and Jonathan Wilson, two of this morning’s podders, chivalrously helped a young woman in her attempt to rent one of the Boris Bikes/Sadiq Cycles lined up outside the building. She succeeded, thanks in no small part to the assistance of our dynamic duo. It would have all made for a perfect short silent movie.

Ozgur Celtikci writes from Turkey and, among other things, alludes to the fact that this apparently stripped-back Monaco side beat Marseille 6-1 yesterday ...

“I think Monaco are exactly doing what a team their size with their fanbase (!) should do. They’ve sold Bernardo, Mendy, Bakayoko, Germain and are about to sell Mbappe and Lemar but they’ve recruited excellently with Tielemans, Diakhaby, Kongolo and Ghezzal (Rachid Ghezzal on a free from Lyon is beyond a steal) and Rony Lopes, Adama Diakhaby, Carillo and Sidibé are probably next in line to be paid multi-millons by Premier League giants in a season or two.

“Their all-around team performance against Olympique de Marseille in yesterday’s thrashing demonstrates that they will be up for the challenge this season as well. Selling assets for around £200-250 and replacing them for roughly £100m makes brilliant sense financially, too.”

I can understand that school of thought – especially if you believe the transfer market bubble will burst, or the system itself not exist as we know it, within five years.

Nothing to see here. And a reminder that, with the international break now upon us, many of the more likely movers this week will be with their national teams. Cue last-ditch private jets from various camps across the continent.

Good call – a manager there who should get the best out of him too.

A Done Deal!

Bristol City have signed exciting West Brom forward Jonathan Leko on loan for the season. He’s an excellent prospect – it’ll be interesting to see how things work out for him in the Championship.

Might Barkley end up at Chelsea before August is done? I think Wilshere might be up for grabs too – although how Arsenal need a purposeful midfielder – but, as with many of their fringe players, his wages might be a problem for most of his suitors. Arsenal are lumbered with a lot of players they don’t especially want at the moment, but you make your bed.

David Wall is back with a reply to those replies:

“Just to clarify, I certainly agree with people who say that Mbappe, and friends have lots of ability, you can see that by watching a couple of matches. And I accept that the fee for Neymar has demolished any sense of proportion that still existed in the transfer market. But for Mbappe in particular, the figure being suggested is the second highest fee in history, for a teenager who has had one, albeit very good, season at the top level. And what he showed was that he is very quick, has good control, and finishes well.

“In contrast (again, admittedly in deals done before Neymar’s move), Lukaku went for half that figure, and Lacazette for a third of it, yet both have shown consistency over a number of seasons, and in both cases the selling club were thought to have done well out of the deals. Monaco players seem to have taken on the role of the latest ingredient featured on a new series by Delia Smith or Nigella Lawson, they’re the next thing after avocados, and cranberries - they may be good, but they’re not that-price-good.”

He is only 18 so it might not help just yet but I’d have thought Arsenal will be well aware of Nice’s Malang Sarr, who has a big future ahead of him.

A question from Shaun Wilkinson:

“Who do you think has been the best under-the-radar signing so far in this transfer window? Mikel Merino at Newcastle looks incredibly composed for such a young and relatively unknown player.”

Let me open that up to the rest of you too. Merino is a good shout, he was very good on Saturday wasn’t he? I would have said Ahmed Hegazi at West Brom until the 77th minute yesterday, and despite that mistake I’d still put him up there – looks a very good player.

When jokes go wrong.

Tim Woods asks, on Monaco: “Why are a club not short of cash ripping apart a title-winning side, and also helping out their main rivals (i.e. a loan to PSG for Mbappe?) Did I miss something over the summer?”

No, it’s a good question. I think it’s fair to say Monaco know they will never be the biggest club in the world, even if the owner is rich, and I think they market themselves to players – explicitly or not – as an excellent final step before moving on to one of the biggest names. Also worth noting that if players want out, and are being paid well, it doesn’t always make sense to hold onto them.

They probably would need a body in there to replace Coutinho even if mainly to ensure they have quality in depth. The other points are interesting – Can was very good indeed in midfield yesterday, to be fair.

And that’s the counterpoint to David Wall. We can’t pretend these players are not good.

“I can see Anfield sounding like a late 90s episode of Nevermind the Buzzcocks this season, particularly at corners. ‘MARK LEMAR! MARK LEMARRRR!!’ What? No I don’t know how to block email addresses, why do you ask?”

Don’t worry, Ronan Heffernan, our IT whizzes have got it under control.

Reports on Sky that West Brom have rejected a £21m bid from Leicester for Jonny Evans. Will Man City make their move now? An Evans-Maguire defensive partnership for Leicester would look pretty good, by the by. I was at Old Trafford on Saturday and Maguire was outstanding – bailing Wes Morgan out more than once too.

You’d like to think not, although there’s an increasing school of thought that social media clamour and potential marketing benefits carry a bit more weight sometimes than might be advisable ...

Worth pointing out, regarding that possible Liverpool move for Lemar, that this would probably make a rubber-stamping of Coutinho’s move to Barcelona more likely.

Nicely put and I think there can be a lot of truth in that. In Monaco’s case I think the most successful export this summer, based on the buying team’s need for him and the manner of fit, will be Benjamin Mendy. Shoot me down.

Allow me to share this Dominic Fifield piece on the troubled situation at Palace. They need some new faces – but that’s not ideal if they’re not sure about the manager. What would you do, Palace fans?

This is a Long Read, by this blog’s standards, from David Wall – but an interesting one about Monaco:

“In terms of making profits this summer, Monaco seem to have been the big winners, with so many of their players going for pretty big fees. Of course, there often seems to be little rationality in the transfer market, but I wonder if people have completely lost their heads when looking at the principality club. It’s true that they won the league title in France, but the impression I get is that most of the interest is based on their progress in Europe. And I think their achievement there was given an enormous helping hand by very fallible opponents, and other freak circumstances.

“They were fortunate in that the putative strongest opponents in their group were Spurs, who can’t put anyone away at Wembley (not even the side who managed one away win all of last season). Then in the second round they managed to go through despite conceding six goals across the two ties, because City took the ‘Arsenal at Anfield’ approach to defending. And in the quarter finals they undoubtedly benefited from Dortmund being understandably distracted after being victims of a terrorist attempt on their lives, in which one of their team mates had been seriously injured, the day before their match eventually took place.

“They exploited all of those situations ruthlessly, it’s true. But the real pedigree was exposed by Juventus in the semi-final. If people looked more at that tie then they might think twice about some of the figures being suggested for Mbappe, Lemar, and friends.”


Well! What do we think? Might Monaco’s star crop not quite be the real deal they’re made out to be? I do know what David means; I think Mbappe, in particular, has a fine chance of being very good but some of the stuff you read and hear goes too far. We don’t really know yet, and if we say we do we’re pretending.

Stay with us, Sid, we’ll keep it mellow. I can’t yet vouch for the quality though.

Only five minutes elapsed before the first Lemar gag, this one from Ronan Heffernan. Perhaps this will be a good day.

“If there’s any justice in this world* Monaco will let Lemar leave for Anfield.
“*Being not that familiar with his back catalogue Its Not That Easy to come up with other Lemar related puns....”

Barry has mentioned this already but what a move that would be – Arsène Wenger pretty much admitted last week that this was a deal he wanted to do.

So what might today’s key themes be?

It seems PSG, the scamps, are close to an ever-so-cunning loan of Kylian Mbappe from Monaco. I’m sure they just want to be cautious and try before they buy, that’s probably what’s going on there. But that might be the biggest Done Deal sorted today.

And will any of Arsenal’s want-away players – 11 of them judging by yesterday – be ushered swiftly out of the door? Looking at Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in particular but there should be plenty of other movement around the Emirates this week.

What about Crystal Palace? They’re already getting twitchy over Ronald de Boer – so will that prevent them getting the players they need in? And surely Tottenham need to get two or three more in after yesterday’s warning shot from Burnley?

I could go on – but what do you expect to happen at your club this week? Email me via the link above. Or tweet. Let’s chat.

For clarity, by the way: the deadline is at 11pm, UK time, on Thursday.

Here we go!

It’s transfer deadline week! And you know what that means – four days ram-packed with tittle-tattle, innuendo and half-truths ... with the occasional Done Deal too. I’m expecting some serious money to be flung around in England’s top two divisions, actually, as distasteful as some of it might be – there’ll be several sides looking for a final piece or two in the jigsaw, and others that have started badly and run into a bit of a panic. So it shouldn’t be boring.

Today might be a little slower, to be fair; if you’re not on these shores, it’s a bank holiday here, and while that doesn’t really stop the football world from turning it might mean things get signed off a little more slowly. But I’d have thought that, at the very least, we should get a better idea during the day of some of the biggest developing stories for the next few days.

And here, actually, is the perfect primer. It’s this morning’s Rumour Mill courtesy of the man sitting to my left, Barry Glendenning:

Nick will be here shortly.

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