Summary
On that bombshell, we’re going to wrap up the blog. Here are the highlights from today.
- Arsenal have had a loan bid accepted for Barcelona’s Denis Suárez, but are still trying to secure an option for a permanent deal at the end of the season.
- Manchester United are in discussions with an unnamed Chinese club over the sale of Marouane Fellaini.
- Maurizio Sarri has received assurances from the Chelsea board that Callum Hudson-Odoi will not be sold.
- Mauricio Pochettino “is not optimistic” Spurs will sign anybody before Thursdays’s deadline, despite their injury troubles.
- Newcastle are reportedly in talks to loan Benfica midfielder Andreas Samaris and Monaco left back Antonio Barreca.
- Leandro Paredes has been presented to the media following his £34.7m move to PSG.
- There are apparently no service stations near Portsmouth.
Thanks for reading. Tune in tomorrow for more transfer biz. See ya!
Genoa have signed Hungarian midfielder Andras Schafer from MTK Budapest, having already signed Real Betis forward Antonio Sanabria, Chapecoense keeper Jandrei, Giuseppe Pezzella from Udinese and Stefano Sturaro on loan from Juventus. Absolute biz.
Arsenal fans, where would you like to see Denis Suárez fit into the side? He’s a nice player, but not convinced his brings something different to your midfield. Looks likely to just be a short-term fix for Mkhitaryan.
Barcelona have accepted Arsenal's loan bid for Denis Suárez!
Denis Suarez is ready to join Arsenal. Official loan bid just accepted. Agreement reached. Here we go! 🔜🔴 #AFC #transfers #Arsenal #denissuarez #barcelona https://t.co/IzklEOKah7
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 29, 2019
Cédric Soares signed for Inter on loan from Southampton on Saturday and has been speaking to the cameras for the first time.
The first comments from @OficialCedric as a Nerazzurri player in 6️⃣0️⃣ seconds! 😉#WelcomeCedric #FCIM pic.twitter.com/2HFzk2stQk
— Inter (@Inter_en) January 29, 2019
Reports are growing that Newcastle are in talks with Benfica over a loan move for midfielder Andreas Samaris and Monaco left back Antonio Barreca, who can’t seem to get in a team that is 19th in Ligue 1. The Italian only joined Monaco in the summer and seems to Newcastle’s preferred choice after a deal for Lazio Jordan Lukaku fell through due to a failed medical.
Here is Callum Hudson Odoi visiting a cash and carry in Mitcham last night, nearby to where he grew up. He’s put on the spot about staying at Chelsea by the owner. Looks uncomfortable.
Keep convincing @Calteck10 bro!! @FrankKhalidUK 😉🙏🤞 Hopefully for not just this month.. but for many many manyyy years to come! #MissionAccomplished #WeWantYouToStay #CFC pic.twitter.com/8V2FrhkGae
— Feroze Ali (@feroze17) January 28, 2019
This is what it has come to.
“Michael,
There are no service stations anywhere near Portsmouth.
Dan Almond.”
Leeds have signed midfielder Mateusz Bogusz from Ruch Chorzow
The 17-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half year deal and will go straight into the under-23 side, although if this video is anything to go by, he won’t be there too long.
Fellaini, now Wagner. If you’re 6ft4in and don’t have an agent, please do get in touch.
Sandro Wagner will earn more playing the next two seasons in China than he has in his entire career so far, according to Bild. #CSL #FCBayern
— Ronan Murphy (@swearimnotpaul) January 29, 2019
Some belated news from Argentina: Boca Juniors have signed Kevin Mac Allister, much to the delight of meme-lovers everywhere. Kevin apparently has ancestors from Fife, Scotland and is the son of former Boca player and Argentina international Carlos Mac Allister and brother of Brighton defender Alexis Mac Allister.
— sheila (@5sheilag) January 28, 2019
Updated
Swansea City are expected to confirm Wilfried Bony’s departure shortly. It is understood that a transfer has been agreed, believed to be with a club in the UAE. The news will be welcome at Swansea, given that Bony was earning £100,000 a week in the Championship. The Ivorian rejoined Swansea from Manchester City in August 2017 but scored only four goals in 26 appearances and his wages – there was no relegation clause in his contract – were a huge burden on the Welsh club.
@michaelbutler18 in one FM (forget the year, but was green) you could sign a young forward called Higuain for a couple of million, a left back called Marcelo for 5m and a midfielder called Modric for similar. But the best buy I had was Raul Garcia, lad scored 30yarders for fun.
— Neil Hawkins (@Neil5185) January 29, 2019
Never heard of them.
“Favourite of all time has to be Mike Duff, the D/M R/C from Cheltenham Town on CM01/02,” emails Andrew Drinkwater. “In the game he would end up going to someone in Division One (as was) for 30k, going straight into the first team and turning into a dependable Premier League starter and international for years. He would usually end up retiring and going up back at Cheltenham as a manager. Clearly another example of how unrealistic and divorced from reality the game is.”
We have ourselves a joke! Duff is actually Cheltenham’s current manager, with the club five points clear of the relegation zone in League Two and played (dependably) for Burnley in the Premier League and Northern Ireland.
Martin Laurence has assembled a Premier League flop XI from the signings of last summer, with Leicester, Burnley and Fulham featuring prominently.
Poch gets this afternoon’s session on the transfer blog off to a flyer with the news that he is ‘not optimistic at all’ of Spurs making any January signings, despite their injury woes.
Hello all. Nice to see John Fleck getting a mention, not just because he has been central to Sheffield United’s promotion push, but also because he used to be one of the best wonderkids on Football Manager. As a 17-year-old, you could pick him for £1m-£2m from Rangers, back in 2009. Would always need a loan or two to reach his full potential, but was a class act.
To save me from reporting on League One loan deals, who were your favourite FM/CM wonderkids? How are they getting on in 2019?
Have you got any tip offs for me? Peter Crouch is in a service station just outside Portsmouth. That sort of thing. Hit me up: michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet @michaelbutler18.
Right, I’m going to hand over to my colleague Michael Butler now. He’ll guide you through the rest of the afternoon. I’ll leave you with a tweet for Spurs fans to ponder:
@GreggBakowski Here's some aimless transfer speculation: Shinji Kagawa is reportedly available for less than £3m after a very decent World Cup. Given that Spurs are one of the few top teams who occasionally employ a no.10, would that not make a massive amount of sense?
— Alex Bullock (@alexjbullock) January 29, 2019
Bye.
Sheffield United have turned down a £4m offer from West Ham for terrier-like midfielder John Fleck, according to reports in the Sheffield Star. According to a Blades-supporting colleague of mine he’s “not quite good enough for the Premier League” so perhaps Declan Rice and Mark Noble ought not to fear losing their place in the team anytime soon.
Updated
Martín Cáceres has signed for Juventus on loan from Lazio for a loan fee of £520,000! He played over 50 games for Juve between 2012-2016 but what a strange career he has had. Have a look at his history. From August 2017 he’s made one appearance at Southampton, then 14 at Hellas Verona and 10 games at Lazio. How has he made it back to Juve?
⚪⚫ OFFICIAL | Martin Caceres is back in Bianconero ➡️ https://t.co/r1PfnWC5sX#WelcomeBackMartin pic.twitter.com/LIu5RuznhG
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 29, 2019
Burnley’s Ben Gibson is a target for Aston Villa but the centre-back would cost around £15m and the Premier League club are reportedly reluctant to sell, having only signed him last summer. Gibson has made just one Premier League appearance after struggling to force his way back into the team following a hernia operation.
Here’s Jamie Jackson’s story on Marouane Fellaini’s potential move to China:
And here’s Barney Ronay on his “genuinely fascinating United career”:
Jürgen Klopp offered an optimistic update on Virgil van Dijk’s fitness before the Leicester match tomorrow. The Liverpool centre-back has been ill since the club returned from a training camp in Dubai last week but was back on the pitch with the squad at Melwood on Tuesday.
“Virg was a little bit ill but he trained yesterday. He will train today and then we will see,” said Klopp. Klopp has had a number of injury problems but most of the short-term problems have cleared up just in time. “Dejan (hamstring) is fine. Gini (Wijnaldum) trained, Fabinho will train today. Trent (Alexander-Arnold) getting closer and closer - looks all very positive – but will not be ready for tomorrow.”
Virg?
And here’s the story on Denis Suárez’s possible loan move to Arsenal. It’s getting closer Gunners fans.
Sarri assured that Hudson-Odoi will not leave Chelsea
Maurizio Sarri has received assurances from the Chelsea board that Callum Hudson-Odoi will not be sold in the summer transfer window, let alone ahead of Thursday’s deadline, having already knocked back the player’s transfer request this month.
Hudson-Odoi had hoped to force through a move to Bayern Munich, who had tabled a number of bids up to £35m for the 18-year-old’s services, only to be informed by the Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia that his request had been rejected. The youth-team graduate played and scored against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday and is in the squad for tomorrow’s Premier League game at AFC Bournemouth.
Chelsea now have four months to persuade a player who has been with them since the age of seven and is contracted to 2020 to sign a new long-term deal at the club. “I know the club told me that, in this window, he will remain with us for sure,” said Sarri. “Very probably also in the next. So we are really very happy with this. As I said, he is improving on the pitch and he is the future of our club and the future of English football.
“I am not frustrated (with the situation). On the pitch, he’s doing very well: very well in training, very well in matches. So I’m really very happy with him. I’m not happy with the situation, of course, but I know very well that every big team here in England has the same problem. It’s not easy to keep these young players. He is, of course, one of the best 18-year-olds in Europe, so it’s very difficult.
“But, as I said before, the club told me he is off the market. And, probably, he will be off the market in July, too. I don’t know (if he’ll be happy with that), but I can say what I see on the pitch. On the pitch at the moment, he’s fantastic.”
Samuel Jones writes: “Maybe this is my former Panini-loving self talking, but I’d love to see more swap deals happening à la Sanchez/Mkhitaryan. I’m sure Arsenal fans would love an Ozil/Perisic trade right now.” I’m not sure Inter fans would Sam, but yes, you’re right. More swaps please.
Mauricio Pochettino’s lack of optimism about signings would suggest that perhaps Spurs are not serious contenders for the signature of Youri Tielemans. Leicester were reportedly in talks over a potential £23m deal for the Monaco player. That means the Foxes could be back in the driving seat.
Personally, I think he should sign for Fortuna Düsseldorf, whose fans should adopt a chant to this jaunty number:
Mauricio Pochettino has been talking about his claim that silverware would serve only to “build egos” at Tottenham. He explains that “egos” is perhaps not as strong an expression in Spanish as it is in English.
I know now that talk about ego is a negative expression in England, maybe in other countries we talk about it being more superficial. It’s because in the past I’ve been asked if winning a domestic cup will help the club to the next level. To win a Carabao Cup or FA Cup reach the next level, I cannot agree. Only I wanted to say how well we’ve progressed in recent years. I want to win cups. I’m not naive. It’s tough for me because after three or four seasons we’re always talking about the cups. I want to build my CV winning titles of course. I’m the first who wants to win. I think in the last five years we’ve played in four semi-finals and one final. If you ask me how to be in the next level it’s improving our structure, the way we operate, the squad, the facilities. We tick almost all boxes. The fans that aren’t happy, with perspective in the future they will appreciate everything everyone is doing for this football club.
So, the question Spurs fans want answering is: are Spurs going to sign anyone then?
You know how we work. The last minute everything can happen. You know about different players that maybe can leave the club, we’ll have to see. I was very optimistic about some options to sign, but today – no. I am not optimistic.
Plus ça change, Mauricio.
Updated
Has Marouane Fellaini played his last game for Manchester United? The 31-year-old midfielder has been linked with a big-money move to the Chinese Super League despite Ole Gunnar Solskjær having said he expects all his players to remain in January. Fellaini is still recovering from a calf injury and is not expected to be involved in tonight’s match at Burnley.
Callum Hudson-Odoi has been told he will not be sold by Chelsea before Thursday’s transfer deadline – or in the summer. The 18-year-old is out of contract in June 2020 and has been linked with a £35m move to Bayern Munich. Chelsea on Monday reportedly turned down a transfer request from Hudson-Odoi, with head coach Maurizio Sarri reiterating to the club’s stance on Tuesday.
Asked about Callum Hudson-Odoi, Sarri said:
As you know, I have not the power to sign new contracts here. On the pitch I am really very happy with him. I know the club told me that, in this window, he will remain with us for sure. Very probably also in the next. So we are really very happy with this. As I said, he is improving on the pitch and he is the future of our club and the future of English football.
What does Sarri make of the Hudson-Odoi situation? Frustrated? Irritated?
I am not frustrated. On the pitch, he’s doing very well: very well in training, very well in matches. So I’m really very happy with him. I’m not happy with the situation, of course, but I know very well that every big team here in England has the same problem. It’s not easy to keep these young players. He is, of course, one of the best 18-year-olds in Europe, so it’s very difficult. But, as I said before, the club told me he is off the market, for sure. And, probably, he will be off the market in July, too. I don’t know (if he’ll be happy with that), but I can say what I see on the pitch. On the pitch at the moment, he’s fantastic.”
Sarri is asked about Chelsea’s forgotten man, Danny Drinkwater. Does he still train with the first team?
Yes, of course. He is at the moment with us. As you know very well, because I told you my opinion about this player, he’s a very good player. But I think he is more suitable for playing with two midfielders. He is not a central midfielder, he is not a centre-right in the midfield with three players. But he’s a very good player in a 4-4-2.
Can Sarri see him playing at Chelsea?
Not at the moment, but I want to wait until the end of the market. Then I’ll try with every player.
Updated
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is confident a deal to sign American midfielder Matt Polster from Chicago Fire will be completed before Thursday’s transfer deadline. “That could be announced at any time,” Gerrard said. “He has travelled to France to get the work permit application complete. We are confident that one will happen.” Gerrard confirmed that 21-year-old Jordan Rossiter is in talks with several clubs over a loan move. “There is a good, strong possibility he could go out on loan. He is speaking to a couple of different clubs and hopefully we can get him out, for the boy’s sake, to go and play and get regular games. He has missed a lot of football so I’m hoping to find the right solution for Jordan to get more game time. That could be announced in the coming days. I don’t expect anyone else to go anywhere.”
You can keep up to speed with the latest deals and club-by-club guides for the top divisions in England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany with our snazzy transfer interactive. You’ll have to scroll down to find the club-by-club guides but they are very useful. I’ve just used it to discover that Marko Rog has joined Sevilla from Napoli.
Rabbi Matondo looks highly likely to be the latest young British footballer to make the move to Bundesliga in order to play some regular football. The 18-year-old Wales international was in Dusseldorf on Monday evening and a deal of around £11m is expected to be completed with Schalke in the next couple of days.
Updated
Denis Suárez trying to force loan move to Arsenal
Denis Suárez is trying to force through a loan move to Arsenal. The 25-year-old midfielder has made only two La Liga appearances for the Spanish champions and is keen to play regular football again. Talks between Barcelona and Arsenal are at an advanced stage for a loan deal with an option to buy the player for €25m.
Updated
Álvaro Morata has been talking to the press on his official unveiling at Atlético Madrid. A video presentation features a picture of him as a child wearing an Atlético shirt and then the player speaks about how much he is looking forward to playing at the club he came through as a youngster.
There was no need to convince me to come. Life takes many turns but I am here now and looking forward to training with my teammates, under Cholo’s orders. I feel part of this club again. I do not feel like a new player, my teammates have written to me over these weeks when nothing was confirmed. That made me happy, and very proud too.
On playing with Diego Costa:
Diego is long-time team-mate with Spain, great player and a good friend. I have spoken with him when I have had difficult moments, him too. Why can we not play together? I am looking forward to seeing him at training, for sure he will have some jokes.
Morata was not asked about Chelsea, though he was asked how he feels about facing his former clubs Real Madrid and Juventus in his first two home games.
Diego is long-time teammate with Spain, great player and a good friend. I have spoken with him when I have had difficult moments, him too. Why can we not play together? I am looking forward to seeing him at training, for sure he will have some jokes.”
Updated
It’s lunch time, so why not while away a few minutes with David Squires’ cartoon, featuring Marko Arnautovic looking delighted to be staying at West Ham. Oh, it’s good. It’s always good.
Updated
Wolves have been so impressed by on-loan Jonny Castro Otto, that they are prepared to part with a club record-equalling £18m for the Spain full-back and are in talks with Atlético Madrid over making the deal permanent. The 24-year-old has never played for his parent club, having joined from Celta Vigo last summer for £6.8m.
Updated
Internazionale are not interested in signing Mesut Özil from Arsenal at the moment. The playmaker has been linked with a potential £25m move to the Serie A club but if Arsenal are to see the player leave in this transfer window it will have to be to another suitor or they may have to pay Özil’s wages in full to facilitate a possible loan move to Inter. The 30-year-old playmaker, who earns around £350,000 per week, has not been a regular in Unai Emery’s Arsenal team and has appeared unsettled at times this season.
Grant Leadbitter is heading back to his old stomping ground having left Middlesbrough and signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at Sunderland. “I’m absolutely delighted to be back, I’m buzzing. When you’re a born-and-bred Sunderland fan and there’s an opportunity to come back to the football club, well, I was never going to say no I can tell you that.” There was interest in Leadbitter from Aston Villa and Blackburn but the chance to go home pulled on the old romantic’s heartstrings. In five years’ time I reckon Jordan Henderson will do the same.
HE'S BACK! 👊
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) January 29, 2019
We're delighted to confirm that Grant Leadbitter has returned to #SAFC, signing a two-and-half year deal at the @StadiumOfLight.
Welcome back, Grant! 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/tKo4E18Fc2
Leandro Paredes has been talking about his £34.7m move to PSG: “I’m very proud to be joining Paris Saint-Germain. I now have this fantastic opportunity, not only to discover a new league, but... to wear one the most prestigious club jerseys in the world.”
And here’s his masterclass in how to put on a football shirt:
🎥✍️ #BienvenidoParedes@LParedss on his first impressions as a @PSG_English player 🙌
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) January 29, 2019
❤💙 #ICICESTPARIS pic.twitter.com/EBboGXHoIN
Stoke look set to follow up the signing of Danny Batth from Wolves by spending £9m on Burnley’s Sam Vokes. A fee has yet to be agreed but talks between the two clubs are ongoing and it is anticipated that Vokes, who turned 29 in October and has been in and out of the Burnley side this season, will complete a move to Stoke.
Maurizio Sarri’s desire to secure a replacement for the departed Cesc Fàbregas may now go frustrated with Chelsea reluctant to recruit a midfielder this month for fear of unsettling the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount and Ethan Ampadu.
Chelsea, who have seen Callum Hudson-Odoi pursued vigorously by Bayern Munich over the last month, want to offer their youth-team graduates encouragement that they can fulfil their senior ambitions at Stamford Bridge, not least with the prospect of a Fifa transfer ban hanging over the club. Hudson-Odoi had gone as far as to submit a written transfer request in person to the director Marina Granovskaia over the weekend in a bid to force through a move to Bayern, but has since been told he will not be sold in January.
Instead, the Premier League side will hope to use the next four months to convince the teenager that he will feature regularly for the first-team – he has yet to start a league game for the club – in the hope he eventually signs a new long-term deal. His current contract expires in 2020. Chelsea have the same attitude towards the likes of Loftus-Cheek and Ampadu, whose talent they hope to harness, and feared following up their initial interest in either Nicolo Barella at Cagliari or Zenit St Petersburg’s Leandro Paredes might have unsettled the youngsters. Paredes has since joined Paris Saint-Germain for £45m.
There are big hopes, too, for Mount, whose performances on loan at Derby County in the Championship this season have been impressive and earned him a first call up to Gareth Southgate’s full England squad in the autumn. The futures of Michy Batshuayi – who has returned from a loan spell at Valencia, but saw a move to AS Monaco fall through – Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta remain uncertain.
Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings is a wanted man, with Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest all trying to sign the 25-year-old on loan until the end of the season. A deal will almost certainly get done with one of those three Championship clubs within the next 48 hours. Bournemouth are willing to let Mings go out on loan following the signing of Chris Mepham from Brentford, but the stumbling block at the moment is the Premier League club’s financial demands. As things stand, Villa appear to be the slight favourites for Mings, who was Bournemouth’s club-record signing when he joined from Ipswich Town in June 2015 for a fee in the region of £9m. Derby County have also registered their interest but need to offload players before they can look at bringing anyone else in.
Fulham’s pursuit of defensive recruits may see them formalise their interest in Crystal Palace’s under-used Scott Dann ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline. The centre-half, a mainstay of the Palace side since joining from Blackburn for around £3.5m five years ago until suffering a serious knee injury in December 2017, was excellent alongside Martin Kelly in Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round victory over Tottenham Hotspur. However, both defenders are behind James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho when it comes to Premier League football at Selhurst Park.
While Dann will not actively agitate for a move, he is anxious for more regular game-time and that may make Fulham’s interest appealing. Claudio Ranieri’s side already have two players on loan from rival top-flight clubs – Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Calum Chambers from Manchester United and Arsenal respectively – so would have to buy the 31-year-old outright, with Palace likely to seek in excess of £10m for a player under contract until 2020 if they were to consider selling to a relegation rival. Dann earns around £65,000-a-week.
Fulham had been expected to secure Gary Cahill from Chelsea, who were willing to loan their club captain out for the final six months of his contract before his departure on a free transfer in the summer as a recognition of his seven years’ service to the club. However, the financial terms offered by the club currently 19th in the division were deemed unacceptable by the former England defender.
Palace have also looked at Cahill, who worked in the national set-up under Roy Hodgson, not least as a potential replacement for Dann, but would not be able to offer him guaranteed game-time given the impressive form of Tomkins and Sakho. Their interest situation could be revived in the summer, with Cahill likely now to see out the season on the fringes at Chelsea.
Updated
Has Idrissa Gueye handed in a transfer request at Everton or not? The club have denied that he has but reports on Monday night suggested he’d written to the powers that be begging them to let him leave after they knocked back a £21.5m bid from PSG. He’s certainly an important defensive presence in central midfield but Marco Silva still hasn’t found the right formula so that his diligent work is rewarded. Tom Davies would certainly benefit if Gueye left – his progress has stalled this season after an impressive 18-month rise.
Some worrying news for Liverpool fans now. Virgil Van Dijk still hasn’t trained since returning from a warm-weather training camp in Dubai, where he picked up an illness. The commanding centre-back hasn’t missed a Premier League game since last January but he’s a serious doubt to face Leicester. Dejan Lovren is fit again, though, and may line up alongside Joel Matip if Van Dijk doesn’t recover in time.
Could Juan Mata be snapped up before the window shuts? It’s understood that Manchester United have offered the 30-year-old a 12-month contract extension, thereby committing themselves to paying around £130,000 a week, or £6.8m in total, just to avoid losing him on a free in the summer. But if the once crafty winger and all-round nice guy who has been shuffled into the background under Ole Gunnar Solskjær chooses to ignore the cash on offer it might attract a sneaky bid from an interested club. Juventus and Barcelona have reportedly been sniffing around. Don’t sound surprised. Barça signed Kevin-Prince Boateng, for heaven’s sake!
Some news from the Championship, where Stoke have completed the signing of Danny Batth from Wolves. The 28-year-old centre-back makes the short journey north after £3m was exchanged between the clubs. Stoke manager Nathan Jones said: “Danny is a dominant leader. He’s got great pedigree having got promoted with Wolves last season. I think the environment needs freshening up with new signings and Danny will do just that.” Meanwhile, Batth has revealed that Benik Afobe sweet-talked him into the move. “I managed to get a few minutes with Benik on the phone. I’ve played with him twice in different spells at Wolves – I know him really well and we’ve kept in touch. He spoke volumes about the club and what the new manager is trying to do.”
Preamble
Good morning readers! The clock keeps ticking down towards the transfer deadline at 11pm GMT on Thursday and clubs have so far been reluctant to do much business. PSG have been active this morning – the French champions have completed the transfer of Leandro Paredes from Zenit St Petersburg for £34.7m. Chelsea had been linked with the 24-year-old midfielder as a replacement for Cesc Fàbregas, but they will have to look elsewhere now and, as mentioned in The Rumour Mill, Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic is on their radar. Another midfielder who is reportedly the subject of interest from Premier League clubs including Leicester and Tottenham Hotspur, is Monaco’s 21-year-old Belgium international Youri Tielelmans. His relationship with the returning Leonardo Jardim is frosty, by all accounts, and he wants out. A loan deal is most likely. And we’ll keep an eye on Ivan Perisic too, who Inter say they haven’t received an offer for despite strong interest from Arsenal, who may have to stump up £35m for the forward. He’s 30 this Saturday. That doesn’t seem likely.
