Follow the latest updates live from the summer transfer window as Premier League clubs look for reinforcements ahead of the new season. Arsenal are being linked with four new players that could rejuvenate their squad, with the move for Chelsea’s Willian set to be followed up by a £100m ‘spree’ on Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos.
Chelsea are also set for a big move with interest in West Ham’s Declan Rice, although the Hammers want as much as £65m for the England midfielder. That move will have to wait until Chelsea’s interest in Kai Havertz is resolved, with suggestions that he could secure a £71m move as early as next week.
Manchester United meanwhile have not reached any breakthrough yet with Borussia Dortmund in their pursuit of Jadon Sancho, with the German club identifying Sunday as a deadline for any move to be completed. With time running out, United may have to switch targets in the transfer window. Manchester City meanwhile are weighing up selling Eric Garcia after he revealed he will not sign a new contract at the club, though a £14m offer from Barcelona is half of what the club wants for the Spaniard. Follow the live updates below.
Good morning and welcome back to The Independent's transfer news live blog!
With the longest ever Premier League season finally wrapped up and consigned to the history books, attentions once again turn to the summer transfer window, which opens nearly two months later than normal.
Clubs are set for a busy 10 weeks until the 5 October transfer deadline, with a number already confirmed to be in the market to reinforce their squads ahead of the 2020/21 season - which will begin on the weekend of 12 September in fewer than seven weeks' time.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the headlines this morning.
We start the morning off at Arsenal, where despite making 55 redundancies the club are looking to spend lavishly in the transfer market.
Mikel Arteta is determined to strengthen his squad this summer in order to close the gap that has emerged between Arsenal and the best clubs in the Premier League, and one of those names that refuses to go away is Atletico Madrid's Thomas Partey.
According to The Sun, Arsenal remain interested in the Ghanaian midfielder and are increasingly likely to pay his £45m release clause, and that could be followed with a move for Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes, with the report adding that the Brazilian has emerged as Arteta's top defensive target.
The club are also keen to re-sign Dani Ceballos on loan from Real Madrid once again, with the Spaniard impressing during his 2019/20 loan spell.
Willian remains in talks with Arsenal and looks increasingly likely to leave Chelsea despite being offered a two-year deal to stay at Stamford Bridge.
The Brazilian will not feature in tonight's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich as he is injured, but he is currently negotiating a move across London after being offered a three-year deal with a £10m signing-on fee from Arsenal.
Frank Lampard has discussed Willian's impending exit, and although he could not shed any light on the move, he did stress that Chelsea will not feel any disappointment if he goes.
"I haven't got an answer" about whether Willian will leave, "because Willian remains our player at the moment. It actually doesn't matter about disappointment from any party in this situation," Lampard told reporters.
"Certainly as a club we have done everything we can to explain to Willian, and mine and his relationship is close. I'd have no feeling of disappointment if he does move on.
"I've played with him, coached him, he's a fantastic man and a fantastic player. He'll feel like that about Chelsea... But I don't want anyone to try and find a negative attitude, because the club have acted very well in this as well."
Chelsea continue to keep a close eye on Declan Rice in their hunt for defensive reinforcements, although West Ham are determined not to sell the England international.
As a result, the Hammers have slapped a £65m asking price on the 21-year-old, which given Chelsea's already-lavish spending this summer would likely prove too much for the Blues to cough up. According to the Daily Star, Chelsea are looking at who they can sell to raise the funds, but it may prove a tough ask with few candidates in a position to leave who would generate that kind of money.
Manchester United are closing in on the deadline given by Borussia Dortmund to complete their signing of Jadon Sancho, with the Bundesliga club wanting talks wrapped up by Sunday or else they will shut down transfer talks and start preparing for next season with the Englishman in their squad.
However, German podcast Ruhr Nachrichten reports this morning that Dortmund are willing to extend that deadline by 10 days to 20 August to allow a deal to go through, with an agreement yet to be reached on a fee for what would be the most expensive British transfer in history.
Previously, the Manchester Evening News reported that Dortmund imposed a deadline of the 10 August to complete the move, although United officials took that with a pinch of salt in the knowledge that the transfer window doesn't close until 5 October.
Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli has taken the unusual decision to speak out over Cristiano Ronaldo's future in the wake of the club's Champions League exit last night.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, Agnelli has stressed that Ronaldo remains a key part of Juventus's future, and denied suggestions that he will pursue a move away from the club following their last-16 elimination.
Ronaldo scored twice on Friday night but it was not enough to save the Italian champions as Lyon secured a 2-2 aggregate draw that took them through to the quarter-finals on away goals, having beaten Juventus 1-0 in the home leg.
Thiago Alcantara has taken a step closer towards moving to the Premier League after Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick admitted he understands his reasoning for pursuing a move to England.
"I can understand when a player thinks about a move," Flick told Sport1.
"Thiago played in Spain for Barcelona and in the Bundesliga for Bayern. If maybe he wants to play in the Premier League now, I totally understand.
"That's why I would like to have him as a coach on the team for the next few years, but that's life. It would go on."
Liverpool are being strongly linked with a move for the former Barcelona midfielder, though at around £30m the club may have to sell in order to move for the midfielder as they are not looking to actively spend this summer on their Premier League-winning team.
Manchester City have set a £30m price tag on defender Eric Garcia, who has informed the club of his intention not to sign a contract extension that will leave him free to leave the club at the end of next season.
City are resigned to selling the Spaniard with Barcelona an interested party in re-signing the man who left Barca's academy in 2017, but Goal reports that their opening offer has fallen well short of City's valuation at just £14m.
Although City are not in a position of strength with just one year remaining on his contract, Barcelona will have to up their offer before they can open talks with the centre-back.
Liverpool have seen a £10m opening offer for Norwich City defender Jamal Lewis rejected, and the recently-relegated club are not impressed by the bid.
Lewis has been identified as potential cover for Andy Robertson, with the left-back targeted to keep the current incumbent on his toes as well as being able to cover centre-back if needed.
But after rejected the offer on Thursday, Norwich are said to be unimpressed by Liverpool's 'derisory' offer for the 22-year-old, and have stressed to the Premier League champions that they are not in a position where they will be forced to sell even though they have been relegated to the Championship.
If Arsenal are to fund their big recruitment plans, there will need to be outgoings in the coming weeks.
One of those who could be on the way out is midfielder Lucas Torreira, with the Uruguayan dropping down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta after suffering a serious injury earlier in the season.
The Telegraph reports that AC Milan are keen on the Uruguay international, and he could be used to generate funds that could help smooth over the planned moves for Thomas Partey and Gabriel Magalhaes.
Torreira is unlikely to be the only departure this summer at Arsenal.
Ainsley Maintland-Niles has been put up for sale at £30m with Brighton interested, while The Sun reports that Matteo Guendouzi, Shkodran Mustafi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mohamed Elneny are all set to leave the Gunners this summer.
Mkhitaryan and Elneny spent last season away from the club on loan, while Guendouzi has fallen out with manager Mikel Arteta since the Premier League defeat at Brighton, having not been selected since.
Mustafi though enjoyed something of a resurgence through the final part of the season, but with interest in Gabrial Magalhaes, the German could be the man sacrificed to make room for the Lille defender.
Current Bournemouth caretaker manager Jason Tindall looks set to become the permanent replacement for Eddie Howe.
Sky Sports reports that Tindall, who served as Howe's assistant for 11 years until his departure earlier this month following the club's Premier League relegation, is set to be appointed later today as his successor, having been in charge of the club for the last week.
Manchester United are ready to let Jesse Lingard leave Old Trafford after he fell behind Mason Greenwood in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's pecking order.
The England midfielder has suffered a fall from grace over the last 12 months, becoming a fringe player since Solskjaer took the reins, and the emergence of Greenwood along with the pursuit of Jadon Sancho has convinced United that he is surplus to requirements ahead of the new season, according to The Guardian.
Lingard is into the final year of his contract, although United have the option to extend that deal by a further year to avoid him from leaving on a free transfer at the end of the season, but the club will listen to offers for the 27-year-old.
BREAKING – Maurizio Sarri sacked by Juventus, reports Fabrizio Romano. More to follow...
Maurizio Sarri was under pressure coming into the game, but was insistent that his board would be foolish to judge him only on one game. Alas... Full story:
Juventus have officially confirmed Sarri's sacking.
Who next? Mauricio Pochettino must be a contender as one of the stand-out coaches of European football currently out of work.
Simone Inzaghi is the leading contender to replace Sarri right now, according to Gianluca Di Marzio.
Simone is the younger brother of Filippo, one of Juve's greatest strikers who was born offside, according to Sir Alex Ferguson. Simone is a son of Lazio, scoring plenty of goals himself in the capital and now as manager there, where he won the 2018-19 Italian Cup. It would be a big step up to Juve, but he had another good campaign with Lazio this season, finishing fourth only five points behind Sarri's champions.
Juve statement:
Juventus Football Club announces that Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his post as coach of the First Team.
The club would like to thank the coach for having written a new page in Juventus' history with the victory of the ninth-consecutive championship, the culmination of a personal journey that led him to climb all the divisions of Italian football.
Chelsea's Tiémoué Bakayoko – remember him, Blues fans? – is wanted by AC Milan, Italian publication Calcio Mercato reports.
Bakayoko spent the season on loan at the San Siro and impressed, far more so than he ever did at Stamford Bridge, and is prepared to halve his wages to make the deal happen.
Jadon Sancho latest: Borussia Dortmund will look to give the England forward a bumper new contract if Manchester United fail to table a bid meeting their £120m valuation by Monday, according to Bild.
His annual salary is likely to almost double from it's current level at €6m. Not bad.
Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli meanwhile has denied that Cristiano Ronaldo is pursuing a move away from the club after their Champions League exit on Friday night, with Lyon knocking the Italian champions out of Europe.
