A Manchester bidding war is ramping up in today’s transfer talk
The much-sought-after Wilfried Zaha.
Photograph: Michael Zemanek/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
With Napoli on the verge of signing Lille Brazilian centre-back Gabriel, both Manchester City and Manchester United are hopeful the Italian side are ready to part company with Kalidou Koulibaly. Rated as one of the best defenders in the business, reports from Italy last week claimed Manchester United had offered £63m to bring him to Old Trafford. Now it’s being suggested Manchester City are ready to up the stakes by offering £72m for the Senegalese international, who would trouser a £9m basic wage should he pitch up at the Etihad.
Summer speculation about Wilfried Zaha’s next move abounds but for now the player remains at Crystal Palace. A move to Arsenal, where he has an admirer in Mikel Arteta, has been mooted, while Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund are all being linked with moves for a winger who won’t come cheap.
Frank Lampard is understood to have told Michy Batshuayi he doesn’t have a future at Stamford Bridge and is welcome to leave, prompting interest from Leeds United. The sum being mentioned is £25m, while Marcelo Bielsa is also believed to be interested in signing the £5m-rated Molde midfielder Fredrik Aursnes. In one of the summer’s more intriguing transfer sagas, Bayer Leverkusen have told Chelsea to stop faffing around and pay the £90m they are demanding for Kai Havertz or risk missing out on the 21-year-old.
Carlo Ancelotti wants to add some steel to Everton’s midfield and has identified Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucouré as a potential new recruit. The 27-year-old was the subject of interest from the Merseyside club last summer but a proposed £30m deal didn’t get over the line. With Watford relegated to the Championship he is expected to leave Vicarage Road, while his teammate Ismaïla Sarr is also up for sale.
Luis Suárez‘s days at Barcelona look numbered, with the 33-year-old’s contract due to expire next June. His former club, Ajax, for whom he played with such distinction before moving to Liverpool in 2011, are reported to be offering him one last big pay day, although the option to play out his twilight years in Major League Soccer or with Qatari side Al-Arabi is also available.
As implausible as it might seem, Hearts full-back Aaron Hickey managed to impress enough during his side’s relegation season to earn himself a shock move to Bayern Munich. Despite interest from Celtic, Lyon, Bologna, Manchester City and Aston Villa, the 18-year-old Glaswegian tyro is reported to be on the verge of signing a five-year deal with the German champions, with some media outlets suggesting the move has already been completed. Former Hearts boss Daniel Stendel has likened Hickey to no less a player than Philipp Lahm, labelling him an “extraordinary talent” in a ringing endorsement. “He never panics, never loses his cool and always seems to make the right decisions,” he said. “Despite being so young, he’s very hard to play against. Aaron as a player is like Philipp Lahm.”
The evolution of Darwin Núñez as a footballer will continue in the Premier League, if Brighton or Sheffield United get their way. The 21-year-old Uruguayan striker scored 16 goals for Spanish second division side Almería during a successful maiden season in Europe after arriving from Peñarol and is valued at £14m.
And finally, with Ronald Koeman off to sort out the unseemly mess that is Barcelona, there’s a vacancy for a new manager to oversee the Dutch national team. Arsène Wenger is believed to have thrown his hat in the ring in a move that is bound to interest the blazers in Amsterdam.
