Follow Tuesday’s transfer news and rumours live, as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona remain the talk of the rumour mill, with the international window opening today, on June 11.
Last week Real Madrid finally announced the signing of Eden Hazard for a fee that could come to exceed £150m. Elsewhere, Daniel James has agreed to his £18m move from Swansea to United.
The future of Matthijs de Ligt meanwhile remains uncertain, with the 19-year-old defender currently linked to a host of clubs eager to land his signature. And Liverpool continue to press for the signature of Lille winger Nicolas Pepe.
Rossi admits he has been blown by the speed of James, saying he has not seen such extreme pace since he played against Ronaldo in his native Italy.
"James' speed reminds of Usain Bolt - to be so fast like him is really incredible," Rossi said at his pre-match press conference.
"In the last years I don't remember one player that gave me this sensation.
"His acceleration is so peculiar, which is why Manchester United have bought him."
James is expected to complete his transfer from Swansea, in a deal worth around £18million, after returning from international duty later this week.
It is a mere hour after the end of the Nations League final - and thereby the end of the regular 2018-19 men’s football season - and one of the big-name managers present in Porto is cycling through the series of Whatsapp messages on his phone, writes Miguel Delaney. A series of them relate to signings.
“Different work now begins,” he smiles to a few media figures around him. “This might be one of the biggest summers we’ve seen.”
Arsene Wenger was recently saying similar at a corporate event, but for European football as a whole.
This is one of those rare windows that represents something of a release, where the relative inactivity of previous windows causes a backlog from so many different areas, that results in one big blow-out.
There have already been the explosions of Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona, as well as Luka Jovic and Eden Hazard to Real Madrid.
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Matthijs De Ligt has revealed the deciding factors for where his future lies.
“We are delighted to welcome Paulo Fonseca to the club,” said AS Roma president Jim Pallotta.
“Paulo is a young and ambitious coach with international experience, a winning mentality and a reputation for bold, attacking football that will excite our fans.
“From the very first conversations we had with him, he made it very clear he wanted to come to Roma and was excited about the challenge of working with our players and putting out a team that the fans can be proud of.”
The Manchester United star is Zinedine Zidane's most important request.
He could join compatriot Ferland Mendy, who will likely join Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic and Eder Militao at the Bernabeu in an expansive rebuild.
The midfielder has joined the Spanish giants from Chelsea for a package that could reportedly end up as much as £130million.
Martinez, preparing to play Scotland in their Euro 2020 qualifier on Tuesday night, insists Hazard has made the right move.
He said: "He's in the best moment of his career, at the age of 28, winning titles in different leagues.
"He can build a new project wherever that is as he's one of the special signings of the summer.
"For Real Madrid, he's a phenomenal footballer to get. There couldn't be too many new chapters to his career so probably the only place he could go and win titles (is Madrid).
"I think it is the perfect fit. He's a player who's gone through clubs and can be treated as a hero. We're all looking forward to how that new chapter at Real Madrid starts."
Maurizio Sarri is all set to swap Chelsea for Juventus and has already identified his top two targets, according to report in his native Italy.
Tuttosport believe Sarri will move for Matthijs De Ligt and Marcelo.
The Old Lady are currently negotiating with the Blues, who appear ready to grant Sarri his wish to leave after delivering the Europa League.
AC Milan have entered the race to sign Cagliari's star midfielder Nico Barella.
Inter had been the front runners, with Chelsea and Liverpool previously linked.
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Arsenal are meanwhile set to push on with their first signing of the summer with a bid for Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser set to be lodged. A new centre-back is high on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s priority list at United with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Leicester’s Harry Maguire both options. Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka is another on the Norwegian’s radar.
It won’t just be incomings at Old Trafford, however, with Paul Pogba a high-profile target for Real Madrid and Alexis Sanchez on his way out with Inter Milan and Juventus fighting it out for his signature – if he drops his wage demands. And Liverpool could be active too as they look to go one better after failing to win the Premier League title by just a single point.
