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BBC
Paris St-Germain have offered Monaco a world record £119m for 18-year-old striker Kylian Mbappe. (Mirror)
But Arsenal are preparing a new bid with Arsenal Wenger confident of a deal for the in-demand forward. (Metro)
And the highly-rated 18-year-old is open to the idea of moving to Arsenal. (Telegraph)
Liverpool's 100m euros (£87.89m) bid for the Monaco forward has been rejected. (Marca)
He is said to have had a conversation with Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. (L'Equipe - in French)
Manager Antonio Conte is prepared to sell midfielder Nemanja Matic, 28, to Manchester United in order to accelerate the £42m signing of 22-year-old Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.(The Times - subscription)
Real Sociedad have agreed a £10m fee with Manchester United for 22-year-old Belgium winger Adnan Januzaj. (Daily Mail)
Manchester United's Italian full-back Matteo Darmian, 27, has phoned manager Jose Mourinho and asked him to push through his move to Juventus with a World Cup on the horizon. (Sun)
Stoke chairman Peter Coates insists the club have "no plans to sell" 25-year-old winger Xherdan Shaqiri this summer. (TalkSport)
But Stoke's £12m bid for Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson is likely to be rejected as Boro demand upwards of £20m for the 25-year-old. (Mirror)
Tottenham have contacted Fiorentina regarding a move for their 25-year-old midfielder Matias Vecino. (TalkSport)
Spurs are also ready to make a £17.5m move for Germany and Schalke under-21 winger Max Meyer. (Sun)
And the North London club are set to hand new five-year deal to England right-back Kieran Trippier. The 26-year-old still has three years left on his current contract. (Mirror)
Liverpool have been told Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 28, will cost £63m if they want to bring him to Anfield this summer.(Bild via Independent)
And the Reds have rejected an £11m bid from Napoli for their 24-year-old left-back Alberto Moreno. (Telegraph)
John Terry is considering an offer from Championship side Aston Villa, but the 36-year-old expects rival interest from Premier League sides as he prepares to leave Chelsea. (Guardian)
Antonio Conte has told Chelsea he wants Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci, 30, or Southampton's Virgil van Dijk, 25, to bolster his team's defence next season. (Guardian)
Burnley are hoping to ward off opposition from Premier League rivals West Brom to land Leeds United left-back Charlie Taylor, 23. (Burnley Express)
Bayern Munich could be ready to loan out former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry after signing him this summer as they remain in the hunt for a big-name attacker. (SportBild via Metro)
Lyon have agreed a £16.7m fee with Chelsea to sign their 21-year-old striker Bertrand Traore, with the deal set to be completed when he returns from holiday next week. (L'Equipe - in French)
Inter Milan are considering rivalling Juventus' bid to sign Arsenal's 28-year-old goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. (Evening Standard)
Belgian goalkeeper Matz Sels, 25, is refusing to give up on his Newcastle United career - and insists his move to Anderlecht will only be for one season. (Newcastle Chronicle)
Benik Afobe has tipped Bournemouth team-mate Sam Surridge, 18, to follow in the footsteps of Baily Cargill and Matt Worthington by playing in the Premier League. (Bournemouth Echo)
Meanwhile...
Juventus could be at risk of losing 17-year-old forward Moise Kean on a free transfer if the club do not deliver on the fleet of tractors they are said to owe his father. (Tuttosport via Independent)
Manchester United's Paul Pogba has been using his summer break to take a starring role in a new music video for US rap artists Desiigner. (Manchester Evening News)
The best of Thursday's transfer news
Chelsea striker Diego Costa, 28, will defy manager Antonio Conte and refuse to leave Stamford Bridge unless he can return to former club Atletico Madrid. (Daily Star)
Manchester City may have to lower their £25m valuation of Joe Hart, 30, as they have yet to receive any firm offers for the England goalkeeper. (Daily Mirror)
Leicester City are planning a £25m move for Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho, 20. (Daily Telegraph)
Manchester City's bid to sign Kyle Walker, 27, will drag into next week as Tottenham Hotspur refuse to lower their £50m valuation of the England defender. City's pursuit of the right-back will not end if they sign Dani Alves, 34, from Juventus. (Independent)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Simon Burnton
Sadly, only one British national newspaper has led this morning with a transfer-gossip story, and even that is more of a repackaging of existing rumour than actual freshly-picked organic gossip. Still, here at the Mill we take what we’re given, which is the Sun’s assertion that Chelsea are “closing in on a £100m double swoop for Juventus stars Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro”, with Antonio Conte “ready to pounce” on £45m-rated Bonucci as well as the Brazilian left-back. Although we read elsewhere that Real Madrid, as they so often do, might come blundering into this happy picture and mess everything up.
Liverpool are still secretly working on a deal to sign Virgil van Dijk, but Sky Italy now insist that Chelsea have submitted a formal offer to Southampton and are very much in the driving seat, though it seems unlikely that even someone as deep-pocketed as Roman Abramovich wants to spend £105m of his soft-earned fortune on two new centre-halves when he already has three perfectly good, title-winning ones (indeed, the Guardian believes Chelsea’s interest is in landing either Bonucci or Van Dijk, but not both). One of Chelsea’s other targets is Monaco’s Tiemoué Bakayoko, for whom they have now agreed a fee of £35.2m, according to the Mail, while they’re going to sell Bertrand Traoré to Lyon for £16m.
Juventus meanwhile are working on defensive reinforcements, with Dani Alves the first first-choice member of their rearguard to depart. Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian is the man they want to fill the Brazilian’s right-flank furrow, and apparently the Italian has apparently personally called José Mourinho to beg the Portuguese tactician to consent to his departure. Mourinho is also thinking about defensive reinforcements, with Globo Esporte in Brazil saying that United, Barcelona and Juventus have all submitted offers for Paris St-Germain’s Marquinhos of which the Mancunians’ was by some way the most generous, amounting to some £62m (though they say he’ll stay in France for another year). Meanwhile in Spain Don Balon report that Bonucci is likely to end up in Madrid, leaving Raphaël Varane clear to also head to Old Trafford in return for “a more than generous economic amount”. Having already paid £30m for Benfica’s Victor Lindelof this would leave the Glazers spending £[insert large number here]m of their soft-earned fortune on three new centre-halves when they already have several perfectly average ones.
Last summer Tottenham called someone who works for Schalke and enquired politely about the availability of Max Meyer, and the German club informed them that it would take £39m to prise him out of their clammy grasp. This summer they tried again, and were apparently informed that the asking price had fallen to a giveaway £17.5m, a result of the 21-year-old’s refusal to sign a new contract to replace the one that expires next summer. This is music to Tottenham-shaped ears, and further buoyed by the belief that Liverpool’s capture of Mo Salah takes them out of the market, the Londoners are ready to make their move. Plus they want the Fiorentina midfielder Matias Vecino.
L’Equipe has news of a “secret conversation that changes everything”, between Zinedine Zidane and Kylian Mbappé, in which the Real Madrid coach volunteered to jettison one of his existing first-choice three-man front-line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to guarantee that there will be an Mbappé-shaped hole in next season’s first XI. “Initially not totally convinced by the Madrid project precisely because he feared not having much playing time, Mbappé emerged from the conversation enthusiastic,” they write. This is a blow for Arsenal, who the Mirror report “believe they can land Mbappé in a world-record deal this summer” (the Mail, contrarily, says “the Gunners’ hopes of landing the talented teenager are fading”). Still, on the plus side the Gunners are also closing in on Alexandre Lacazette, and one expensive young French forward is surely enough even if – again according to the Mirror – “Manchester City’s belief is growing that they can land Alexis Sánchez in a deal potentially worth up to £50m”.
And now for news of clubs outside the top six: Leicester are negotiating with Norwich over a deal for the 18-year-old striker Benny Ashley-Seal, who has yet to make his first-team debut for the Canaries but is apparently quite good. And Stoke’s £12m offer for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson isn’t even nearly high enough.
HITC
Dean Smith confirms desire to extend West Ham and Everton target Jota's contract
Jordan Harris
West Ham United and Everton are both interested in Brentford playmaker Jota, but Dean Smith is determined to keep him.
Brentford boss Dean Smith has confirmed that he would like to extend Jota's contract beyond next summer as he attempts to keep the Spaniard away from the host of Premier League side's currently chasing his signature, Get West London reports.
According to Get West London, West Ham, Everton and Burnley all want the 26-year-old after his sensational season at Griffin Park, and the Bees could be left in a difficult position if they do not act quickly.
Jota's contract with Brentford expires next summer, meaning that the club could risk losing him for free in a year or for a significantly lower fee in January if they do not agree an extension, which could perhaps tempt them to cash in this summer if the playmaker decided to make it clear that he wants to leave.
But Smith is determined to disappoint the Hammers, Toffees and Clarets and bring an end to any speculation by agreeing an extension with Jota.
“It's one I'll discuss with Phil and Rasmus. We want to keep him at the club as long as possible," Smith said, as reported by Get West London.
“He showed what we was about in the last half of the season and he was magnificent. It'd be good if we can keep him longer for the football club.”
It is not surprising that Brentford are keen to agree a new deal, nor why the likes of West Ham and Everton are interested in signing him.
The attacking midfielder scored 12 goals in just 21 Championship games for the Bees, while also contributing five assists following the end of his loan spell at Eibar in December.
And it would surely be fair to suggest that had he been at Griffin Park all season and been capable of sustaining that form throughout the entire year, Smith's men would undoubtedly have been even closer to the play-off places, perhaps even breaking into the top six.
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