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The summer transfer window is approaching, and there’s plenty of gossip swirling about who’s moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings and goings and, of course, done deals!
TOP STORY: Pulisic to move to Juventus if Dybala departs
Juventus are weighing up a move for Chelsea and United States forward Christian Pulisic in the summer, reveals Tuttosport.
It is reported that the Bianconeri could make as many as five signings as manager Massimiliano Allegri looks to rebuild his squad in a bid to return to contention for the title. The Serie A club are eight points off the top of the table with just three games left to play, while they are expected to part ways with forward Paulo Dybala at the end of the season as his contract runs out.
Pulisic, 23, is one of two players on the club’s shortlist to replace the Argentina international, alongside Sassuolo star Giacomo Raspadori. And, with Pulisic having made just 10 starts in the Premier League this season, he could be willing to take on a new challenge at a club where he would join his USMNT compatriot Weston McKennie.
Dybala is likely to leave Turin this summer after seven seasons at Juve and join rivals Inter Milan as a free agent, Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
A reported target of Barcelona, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United among others, Dybala’s preference is to remain in Italy and Inter have reportedly offered him a four-year contract worth €6m net per season.
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15.13 BST: Fabrizio Romano reports that Barcelona won’t pay the €30m clause to sign Wolves winger Adama Traore on a permanent deal once his loan move expires this summer.
Traore, 26, started his spell at Barca well but has recently had less of an impact and has two assists from nine LaLiga games.
Francisco Trincao is on loan at Wolves from Barcelona, so a swap deal was being mooted for €30m, but the Catalan club appear to have had a change of heart.
14.30 BST: Gotta love Zlatan Ibrahimovic‘s approach.
1:10
Zlatan Ibrahimovic reflects on his time in the Premier League with Manchester United.
13.51 BST: Germany international defender Matthias Ginter is returning to Freiburg from Borussia Monchengladbach on a free transfer in the summer.
Ginter, 28, began his career at the club before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2014. He made over 150 appearances for Gladbach and won the 2014 World Cup with Germany.
At Freiburg, he will replace defender Nico Schlotterbeck, who has already agreed a move to Dortmund.
13.46 BST: AC Milan are hoping to reach a breakthrough in talks for Rafael Leao to renew his contract, Record reports.
Leao, 22, has a contract until June 2024 but his high wage demands have so far compromised negotiations to extend his stay at San Siro as he has requested a wage increase that would see him earn €5m per season, plus bonuses.
The Portugal international, who joined the Rossoneri from Lille in the summer of 2019 in a €29m transfer, has scored 13 goals and set up seven more in 39 appearances for Milan across all competitions this season.
Despite Premier League clubs Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle monitoring Leao’s contract talks, Milan remain hopeful of reaching a deal to extend.
13.20 BST: Chelsea are facing a race against time to sell the club after the U.K. government insisted the transaction must be completed by May 31, sources have told ESPN.
New York-based merchant bank Raine Group, appointed by Chelsea to handle the process, last week confirmed a consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly has been chosen as the preferred bidder but a series of complications have threatened to derail the deal.
British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe attempted to hijack the Boehly offer by submitting a new bid at the 11th hour. One report on Wednesday suggested Ratcliffe had been informed his offer would not be considered but he remains on standby, although a spokesman for Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company INEOS did not respond to a request by ESPN for comment.
Sources have told ESPN that Boehly has a short period of exclusivity in which to finalise terms, thought to end in the next few days.
12.58 BST: Barcelona are among the clubs tracking young Hammarby IF midfielder Williot Swedberg, according to Diario AS.
Swedberg, 18, is also drawing interest from Manchester United, along with several other European clubs, following a string of impressive performances in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
The Sweden youth international has been a regular for his club for the last two seasons, scoring six goals in 13 appearances across all competitions in the current campaign.
Swedberg is already familiar with Spain, too, having spent three years living in the city of Valencia when he was younger.
“It’s nice to talk about [potential] Barcelona interest, I wouldn’t say no,” he said in an interview last year. “But Valencia are my favourite team in Spain, although they’re not at [Barça’s] level.”
12.17 BST: Inter Milan defender Stefan de Vrij could be available for €17m this summer, according to Football Insider.
De Vrij, 30, has been linked with Tottenham, Aston Villa and Newcastle but Antonio Conte’s relationship with him from his time at San Siro could make the difference.
The Netherlands international is a quality player, so a relatively low fee may snap Spurs into action.
11.40 BST: Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto has agreed a one-year contract extension with the club, a source has confirmed to ESPN.
Roberto, 30, is out of contact at the end of the season but a source close to the player says “everything except the signature” is now in place for him to commit his future to the club until 2023.
After turning down a proposal to renew at the start of the season, Roberto’s time at Camp Nou looked set to come to an end this summer. Sources confirmed to ESPN that Atletico Madrid, as well as several English and Italian sides, had sounded out signing the Spain international on a free transfer.
However, Barca coach Xavi Hernandez has publicly expressed a desire to keep Roberto, who can also play at right-back, and talks re-started between the player’s camp and the club last month with the aim of coming to an understanding.
Roberto has missed most of the current campaign through injury, making just 12 appearances in all competitions. In total, he’s played 316 times for the first time since making his debut under Pep Guardiola in 2010.
11.23 BST: Fulham are coming back to the Premier League next season and FLW reports they want to sign Liverpool defender Joe Gomez.
Gomez, 24, has made only 10 starts all season, with three in the Premier League, as he has slipped down the pecking order behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate after recovering from injury.
Fulham need some top players to compete in the Premier League again, with Gomez one of their top targets.
10.45 BST: The late Mino Raiola had a massive impact on football.
1:24
Alejandro Moreno discusses Mino Raiola’s impact as an agent following his death at age 54.
09.56 BST: If Diego Simeone leaves, Atletico Madrid have the perfect successor in waiting, writes Graham Hunter.
Succession, when we are talking about a football dynasty, is a deeply thorny issue. Prime examples include how Liverpool handled the decline and disappearance of their “Boot Room” management team (30 years without winning the title in England), Arsenal’s tortuous attempts to restore greatness post-Arsene Wenger and, of course, the calamitous mess into which Manchester United have descended after the retirement of their greatest manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Whenever either Simeone chooses to pursue a spell in Serie A — with Inter Milan or Lazio, one would imagine — or Atletico approach him and say, “Thanks for the memories, it’s been great, but…,” that’s the time when choosing the correct strategy for what comes next will be a vexatious, thankless task. However, there may very well be a vastly tempting, persuasive solution about to present itself.
Last weekend, Athletic Club took Atleti to the cleaners. The final scoreline was only 2-0, but it could have been a distinctly more humiliating experience for the outgoing champions. All the stats about running, pressing, sprinting and transition play were damningly in Athletic’s favour. Atletico were made to look drained, tired, flat.
In blunt terms, Athletic did to Atleti what Atleti — for the majority of their campaigns under Simeone — did to their domestic and European rivals. The architect? Marcelino Garcia Toral.
09.17 BST: Camano, meanwhile, has denied that his client Achraf Hakimi wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain after just one season at the club.
Reports in France claimed the Morocco international right-back is unhappy in the French capital and wants to be transferred.
Hakimi, 23, signed a five-year deal with PSG after joining for €60m from Inter Milan in July 2021. But Hakimi has failed to replicate last season’s form and has come in for criticism after scoring just four goals and assisting six others in 38 appearances.
“Hakimi is a PSG player,” Camano said. “He is happy there. We have four years left on his contract. He is young and he wants to continue to grow there.”
08.52 BST: Reported Manchester United target Lautaro Martinez has no intention of leaving Inter Milan this summer, according to his agent Alejandro Camano.
Amid reports that United are among the Premier League clubs hoping to sign the Argentina international, Camano says his client is staying put.
“At times, the press publishes things about transfers and Lautaro is only thinking about Inter, in giving the Inter fans joy by winning the league and working towards the World Cup,” Camano said. “We don’t depend on a transfer, he is at Inter, he is happy, Milan is a marvellous city. Our only thoughts are on Inter and on working towards the World Cup.
“Argentinian players die to go to their national team. Lauti [Lautaro] is creating his mentality and working towards reaching the World Cup at his best. He is growing as a footballer. We can’t forget that we are talking about a player who is 24 years old. He is becoming one of the most important players in the international scene.”
Martinez, whose contract with Inter expires in June 2026, has scored 17 goals in 32 league appearances so far this season. Inter are second in the standings, two points adrift of Serie A leaders AC Milan with three games remaining.
08.30 BST: Manchester United must sign two “modern” strikers who will bring real quality to the attacking positions when new manager Erik ten Hag begins his squad rebuild, interim boss Ralf Rangnick said.
Rangnick will step down at the end of the season and the new Austria manager, who will remain at Old Trafford in a consultancy role, said finding someone to share the scoring burden with Cristiano Ronaldo will be one of Ten Hag’s top tasks.
Portugal forward Ronaldo (18) has scored over a third of United’s 57 league goals this campaign, which sees them in sixth place.
“Cristiano isn’t a central striker or does not want to play in that position,” Rangnick said. “It’s obvious the club needs at least two new strikers who give this team more quality and more options. I wouldn’t even call it wingers.
“Two strikers and modern strikers, that do not necessarily have to be wingers. If you look into international football, there aren’t many top teams who still play with two strikers. Most play with either three strikers or a false nine.”
1:06
Shaka Hislop discusses if Monday’s win over Brentford was Cristiano Ronaldo’s last game at Old Trafford with Manchester United.
PAPER GOSSIP (by Adam Brown)
– Manchester United are keen to sign Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer, reveals Ekrem Konur. It is reported that incoming United manager Erik ten Hag is keen to secure the Portugal midfielder’s signature, making the 25-year-old one of his first signings when he officially takes over from Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford in a few months.
– Barcelona will meet with the representatives of Gavi soon as the club look to extend his contract, according to Fabrizio Romano. Despite interest from some clubs across Europe, including Bayern Munich and Liverpool, it is reported that the 17-year-old midfielder wants to remain at Camp Nou to continue his career.
– Napoli are looking to hand Kalidou Koulibaly fresh terms as they look to prepare for life without captain Lorenzo Insigne, writes Calciomercato. The Serie A club have made the 30-year-old centre-back a priority renewal for the summer, and will look to persuade him to stay by offering him the armband on a permanent basis. Koulibaly will enter the final year of his contract in June, while Insigne will move on Toronto FC in Major League Soccer.
– Luka Jovic is on the radar of Borussia Dortmund, with Real Madrid looking to offload the 24-year-old striker in the summer. That’s according to Sport1, which writes that the Serbia international is interested in moving back to the Bundesliga, having enjoyed success with Eintracht Frankfurt. He has made just two starts for Carlo Ancelotti’s side this season across all competitions.
– Chelsea have identified Josko Gvardiol as a reinforcement in defence, writes Goal. The Blues are set to lose Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger on free transfers in the summer, and it looks as though Thomas Tuchel is already looking for potential replacements when the transfer market re-opens. The 20-year-old defender has impressed for RB Leipzig this season, making 44 appearances across all competitions.