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BBC
Chelsea winger Willian, 31, has turned down a two-year deal with the club and has held talks over a free transfer to Arsenal, who are willing to offer the Brazil international the three-year contract he wants. (Guardian)
Arsenal are also keen on Bayern Munich's Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho, 28, and Atletico Madrid's Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey, 27. (Times - subscription required)
Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wants to see the club sign Barcelona's French forward Ousmane Dembele, 23. (Le10 Sport)
Manchester United are edging close to signing 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho on at least a five-year deal. (Mail)
Manchester United will wait until late in the transfer window to move for Aston Villa's English midfielder Jack Grealish, 24. (Mail)
Inter Milan have agreed to buy Chile winger Alexis Sanchez, 31, for £13.5m from Manchester United and the deal will be announced after the Italian side's Europa League game with Getafe on Wednesday. (Corriere della Sera, via Mail)
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has made five defenders available for sale and will step up plans to sign Leicester City and England left-back Ben Chilwell, 23. (Times - subscription required)
Chelsea will need to make Chilwell the world's most expensive defender if they are to land his signature. (Mirror)
Chelsea are interested in Real Madrid's 23-year-old Spanish left-back Sergio Reguilon, who has been the subject of an £18m bid from Everton. (Sky Sports)
Paris St-Germain want to sell former Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye and Wolves are interested in the Senegal international. (Le10 Sport)
AC Milan will face competition from Bayer Leverkusen for £30m-rated Norwich City defender Ben Godfrey, 22. (Sky Sports)
Lazio, Tottenham, RB Leipzig, Everton and PSV Eindhoven are all keen on South Korea centre-back Kim Min-jae, 23. (Gazzetta dello Sport)
Tottenham and England defender Danny Rose, 30, says he is "very happy" to stay at the club going into the final season of his contract. (Second Captains Podcast, via Guardian)
Aston Villa, Leeds United, Newcastle United and West Ham are interested in Crystal Palace and Republic of Ireland midfielder James McCarthy, 29. (90Min)
Guardian Rumour Mill
John Brewin
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s heroics at Wembley have convinced Frank Lampard’s Chelsea that they need a defensive clear-out. Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Emerson Palmieri, Marcos Alonso are for the out, as is keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who cost so much he will have to be loaned out. N’Golo Kanté is also being considered for sale as Frank looks to sign Declan Rice from West Ham and Atlético’s José Giménez.
Ben Chilwell is an option for left-back but Chelsea may have to make him the most expensive ever English defender to land him from Leicester. Real Madrid’s 23-year-old Spanish left-back Sergio Reguilón, who is available at a mere £18m, rather less than the £80m Chilwell might cost.
Arsenal are set to be imminent movers in the market, what with the expected capture of Willian, and then the addition of Philippe Coutinho to the club’s phalanx of willowy playmakers. Remember, fact fans, that Coutinho is actually still a Barcelona player. Thomas Partey, Atlético Madrid’s midfield tyro, will be another expensive addition for the FA Cup winners, though is a £45m release fee expensive these days?
Another Barcelona asset to be cashed in might well be Ousmane Dembélé, and the talk in France is that he might be key to keeping Aubameyang on the books at the Emirates. The two are good pals from their days together at Dortmund.
Jadon Sancho – who else? – leads Tuesday’s paper talk of transfer transactions, as he has done for many a moon. Manchester United’s getting shut of Alexis Sánchez and his £55m contract has eased the passage, it seems, in what looks like unusually slick business for Ed Woodward.
Word of warning for Ed, not known as someone who is known for getting stuff done quickly when a long-running transfer saga is the alternative: Borussia Dortmund have set a time-limit of 10 August to agree a fee that is going to be north of £100m – with £108m set as the highest estimate. What happens if that deadline is not met is anyone’s guess, though smart money must be on, well, another long-running transfer saga. The suggestion is that United can pay in instalments.
That will leave United’s other long-term target, Jack Grealish, hanging for a while but the word is that United will move for Aston Villa’s captain later in the transfer window, perhaps just to make sure they are involved in another long-running transfer saga.
Were United to fail in landing either of those, then an old flame has come back on the market. It appears Wilfried Zaha and Crystal Palace are finally to part, and he will be available for a mere £30m. That could pique the interest of United, Chelsea or even Everton.
Ben Godfrey, impressive despite being a fully paid-up member of Norwich’s leaky defence, looks set for a continental move this summer with Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan both interested.
And finally, one that won’t now come off: Cristiano Ronaldo has tinkered with the idea of joining PSG but has decided to stay at Juventus.
Sport Witness
Barcelona have ‘advanced negotiations’ with West Ham for player’s sale – Fee around €20m
Martin Braithwaite arrived at Barcelona from Leganés as an emergency signing in February.
The striker has scored only one goal for the Catalan club, and he’s been made available in the transfer market.
At the end of last month, Mundo Deportivo reported the La Liga side are in talks with Everton and West Ham United for the 29-year-old’s transfer.
Journalist Miguel Rico, writing for the last page of today’s edition of Mundo Deportivo, provides insight into the latest development.
He claims Quique Setién’s side have ‘advanced the negotiations’ with the Hammers for the Denmark international’s sale.
The Blaugrana paid €18m for the attacker, and according to Rico, the Premier League side would be willing to pay around €20m to acquire his services. There’s no mention of Everton in today’s report.
With Barca wanting to offload the former Middlesbrough man, joining West Ham will provide Braithwaite an opportunity to return to England.
David Moyes has the services of Michail Antonio, Sébastien Haller and Albian Ajeti as the three recognised strikers in the squad.
In addition to this, Jordan Hugill has returned to West Ham after his loan spell at Queens Park Rangers.
Braithwaite’s signing would only make the striker position more crowded at West Ham, unless they decide to cut ties with one of the aforementioned players this summer.
C&H
New move to solve Ajeti’s dilemma
Celtic boss Neil Lennon is making new moves to take Hammer Albian Ajeti to the club according to Sky Sports.
The Scottish club’ s offer of £5 million has been accepted by the Hammers but Ajeti remains in a quandary over whether this is the best move for him and has returned to Switzerland to think things over.
But in the meantime Lennon is reported to have got busy by entering into new discussions with the players representatives.
The problem may of course surround wages with the former Basel player almost certainly having to take a cut on PL salaries.
But being fair it may simply be that he is considering that maybe new offers may come in which he believed will advance his career better.
Whatever the problem it seems that Lennon may well be doing his best to solve it and has allegedly been in talks with the striker’s representatives.
The Celtic boss and former Leicester City player, who learned his trade under Martin O’Neill, is clearly unworried by the player’s disappointing form at the London Stadium and is hoping he can recharge him into the kind of performances he gave at Basel.
The deal will initially see him move on loan but with an option to make it permanent after a certain number of games which is understood to be very low.
Felipe Anderson’s brother Julian has confirmed that a story suggesting the Hammer was in Rome to talk to Lazio to engineer a return is completely untrue! Julian posted on Instagram ‘Is not true’ in response to the FI report adding ‘Always Iron’ and ‘COYI’
FLW
Leeds rivalling Newcastle United, West Ham and Aston Villa to signing of midfielder
Leeds United are reportedly rivalling Aston Villa, West Ham and Newcastle United to the potential signing of Crystal Palace midfielder James McCarthy according to 90min.
McCarthy has been a regular for the Eagles since signing from Everton, after struggling with injuries in his time with the Merseyside-based club.
The midfielder made 35 appearances in all competitions for Crystal Palace in the 2019/20 season, as they finished 14th in the Premier League standings.
Aston Villa registered their interest in signing the 29-year-old after they confirmed their status in the top-flight for another season, whilst Steve Bruce and David Moyes are said to be long-term admirers of McCarthy.
Leeds are preparing for life back in the Premier League, after they won promotion from the Championship under the management of Marcelo Bielsa.
The Whites finished top of the table and an impressive ten points clear of second-placed West Brom in the 2019/20 season, and the Leeds boss will be hoping to make the necessary additions to his squad in the summer transfer window.
It is believed that Crystal Palace are keen to get as much of the £8million they paid for McCarthy back in any potential agreement to sell him during the summer, although it remains to be seen as to which club is the frontrunner to land his signature.
The Verdict:
I think this is a smart move by Leeds.
McCarthy has a considerable amount of experience under his belt in the Premier League, and fits the bill with Bielsa’s style of play in terms of his impressive work-rate.
But the Whites face a real battle to land his signature, as you would imagine that Newcastle United and Aston Villa will be in a strong position to reach an agreement with Crystal Palace for the Irishman.
He’d provide Leeds with much-needed strength in depth though, that’s for sure.
Football London
By Sam Inkersole
West Ham will not entertain any permanent offers for Grady Diangana to leave this summer as the club looks to raise funds for incomings, football.london understands.
Hammers manager David Moyes is a big fan of Diangana, who had an excellent season away at West Bromwich Albion on loan last season as the Baggies, guided by former Hammers manager Slaven Bilic, secured automatic promotion back to the Premier League on the final day of the Championship season.
Reports have claimed that Diangana is concerned about a lack of game time in east London in 2019/20 amid competition for places and could look to force a move.
Moyes sees Diangana as a big part of the future in east London, saying after the Baggies secured their place back in the top flight: “It will give him the confidence of being in a winning side, scoring, and playing well so I’m looking forward to getting him back.
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