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BBC
Wolves are trying to sign Porto midfielder Juan Quintero - who has impressed for Colombia at the World Cup in Russia - but face competition from Real Madrid and Tottenham for the 25-year-old. (Mirror)
Bayern Munich are the latest club to join the race to sign Manchester United's 22-year-old France forward Anthony Martial. (Star)
Liverpool have not been involved in any further talks with Lyon over a move for 24-year-old playmaker Nabil Fekir since the transfer of the France international to the Reds collapsed. (Times - subscription required)
The Reds could try to sign Germany and Bayer Leverkusen winger Julian Brandt, 22, after the break down in the deal for Fekir. (Star)
Manchester United are monitoring 32-year-old Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic, who is still involved in the World Cup with Croatia. (Express)
Barcelona could sell 29-year-old midfielder Paulinho to raise funds for the signing of fellow Brazil international and Chelsea attacking midfielder Willian, 29. (Mundo Deportivo, via Express)
Chelsea could appoint Maurizio Sarri as their new manager on Monday and his first signing will be 22-year-old Russia midfielder Aleksandr Golovin who will cost £27m from CSKA Moscow. (Sun)
Southampton will beat West Ham in the race to sign Barcelona defender Marlon Santos, 22, after agreeing a £10m fee with the Spanish club for the Brazilian. (Mirror)
The futures of Southampton's Argentine forwardGuido Carrillo, 27, and Morocco midfielder Sofiane Boufal, 24, are in doubt after they were left out of the club's pre-season tour of China. (Sun)
West Ham and Fulham are locked in a £25m battle for Nice's French striker Alassane Plea, 25. (Sun)
Newcastle are also interested in former Lyon striker Plea, who scored 21 goals last season. (Shields Gazette)
Newcastle are considering a bid for Crystal Palace's English winger Andros Townsend, 26, but only if they sell Scotland winger Matt Ritchie, 28, to Stoke City. (Telegraph)
Juventus have turned down Lazio's proposal of £89m and Uruguay midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, 21, for Serbia midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, 23. (Tuttosport - in Italian)
Matej Vydra is edging towards a £11m move to Leeds after the 26-year-old Czech striker was excluded from Derby's training camp in Tenerife. (Telegraph)
Stuttgart will not sell France defender Benjamin Pavard, 22, for "50 million euros" and want to keep the player for another year, according to the German club's sporting director. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten - in German)
Spain Football Federation president Luis Rubiales says he does not regret sacking coach Julen Lopetegui on the eve of the World Cup, despite the country's last-16 exit to hosts Russia. (Mail)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Gregg Bakowski
Liverpool have decided that seeing as they bothered to record an unveiling video with Nabil Fekir a few weeks ago, they might as well go through with actually signing the Lyon playmaker after negotiations appeared to break down a few weeks ago. It turns out club doctors didn’t like the look of one of Fekir’s knees when they prodded it for a medical, but Liverpool have since come to the conclusion that trying to shave a few million off the valuation by inserting numerous clauses into his contract might result in Fekir joining Manchester United – and no one at Anfield wants that. So, instead, they will just cough up whatever the Ligue 1 club want.
Manchester United have the hots for another feisty forward in any case. José Mourinho will try to woo Willian to Old Trafford from Chelsea while his former club is a rudderless mess. But big bad Barcelona might spoil his plans – as they so often do – by increasing their £50m offer for the Brazilian and whisking him off to Catalonia. Not to worry though, Mourinho will comfort himself by signing the Serbian Scott McTominay, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio.
As for Chelsea’s manager, it says here that Antonio Conte, who is currently stalking the Stamford Bridge corridors like an unshaven lonely ghost, will be replaced by Napoli’s Maurizio Sarri. That is, of course, if someone can find Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to get the business done. Sarri will have plenty of firefighting to do when he arrives. As well as dampening interest in Willian by convincing him to stay, he’ll also have to pour cold water on Thibaut Courtois’s idea of joining Real Madrid. Perhaps he could so by pointing out that a post-Zidane Bernabéu could be even more chaotic than Stamford Bridge next season. Sarri also likes the cut of Aleksandr Golovin’s jib and would happily shovel £27m in the direction of CSKA Moscow for the Russia midfielder.
Everton manager Marco Silva is still feeling the love for Croatia despite seeing them almost get knocked out of the World Cup because of an inability to defend against a Championship player’s long throw-ins. He wants a piece of Domagoj Vida – and will offer Besiktas £12m for the central defender who resembles a generic Hollywood action film baddie. He may even try to swap Davy Klaassen for him which, and let’s be honest, could offend the Turkish club. The Toffees will also add Celtic’s Kieran Tierney to their defence, having looked across Stanley Park and realised that Scottish full-backs are all the rage these days.
Arsenal are close to finally sealing a deal for Sampdoria’s hard-as-nails defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira. The 22-year-old will set the Gunners back £25m, mind, but he’s Uruguayan so he’ll reduce their goals-conceded tally by at least a dozen and prove more than good value. Across London, West Ham want to get their underwhelming transfer business done early by signing 31-year-old winger Antonio Candreva from Internazionale.
Fulham and Huddersfield Town will fire offers in the direction of Leicester for Nigeria’s jet-heeled forward Ahmed Musa, who spent most of last season on loan at CSKA Moscow. And Wolves want to sign Colombia’s Porto midfielder Juan Quintero because they are back in the big league now, and they don’t care if Real Madrid and Tottenham are sniffing around for him.
Star
Pellegrini submits £27m bid for Ligue 1 star - report
By Andy Wilson
WEST HAM boss Manuel Pellegrini has submitted an offer of £27m for Nice striker Alassane Plea.
The 25-year-old came through the youth ranks at Lyon before joining Nice in 2014 for £500,000.
Last season was his most prolific to date, netting 21 goals in all competitions and assisting a further seven.
His form has caught the attention of some Premier League clubs with both Tottenham and Newcastle believed to be interested in the Frenchman.
But according to Sky Sports, the Hammers have now put in a bid for the Ligue 1 goalscorer of £27m.
It also said that one other club has already made an offer of £25m.
Meanwhile, Pellegrini is looking forward to an ‘exciting time at West Ham’ after putting together his backroom team for next season.
The Hammers boss will be assisted by Ruben Cousillas and coach Enzo Maresca, while former Real Madrid and Liverpool goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero will be employed in the same position at the London Stadium.
Fitness coach Jose Cabello will be reunited with Pellegrini following a spell under the Chilean at Malaga, Manchester City and Hebei China Fortune, with Cabello assisted by Felix Cao, who was also on Pellegrini's staff in China.
"My backroom staff are hugely important to me, as they have been throughout my managerial career," Pellegrini told the club's official website.
"I know they will play a pivotal role in helping the team prepare and perform to the best possible level.
"As a group, and as individuals, they bring with them a lot of experience and know-how as well as a great understanding of how we want to do things.
"These are all important factors in putting a successful team on the pitch, which is what we are all striving for.
"I'm delighted we are going to be working together again as we enter an exciting time at West Ham."
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