Thursday’s transfer news, rumours: Arsenal to agree deal, Man Utd and Liverpool identify new targets
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona remain the talk of the transfer rumour mill now that the international window has finally opened. So join us for LIVE news, rumours and done deals, throughout Thursday.
Last week Real Madrid finally announced the signing of Eden Hazard for a fee that could come to exceed £150m. And yesterday Daniel James completed his £18m move from Swansea to United.
The future of Matthijs de Ligt meanwhile remains uncertain, with the 19-year-old defender currently linked to a host of clubs eager to land his signature. And Liverpool continue to press for the signature of Lille winger Nicolas Pepe – but have a new striker in their sights.
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Arsenal are meanwhile set to push on with their first signing of the summer with a bid for Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser set to be lodged. A new centre-back is high on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s priority list at United with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Leicester’s Harry Maguire both options. Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka is another on the Norwegian’s radar.
It won’t just be incomings at Old Trafford, however, with Paul Pogba a high-profile target for Real Madrid and Alexis Sanchez on his way out with Inter Milan and Juventus fighting it out for his signature – if he drops his wage demands. And Liverpool could be active too as they look to go one better after failing to win the Premier League title by just a single point.
A United exit
Romelu Lukaku has dropped one of the biggest hints yet that he wants to leave Manchester United this summer.
The Belgian forward, who has not always been the most popular player at Old Trafford, revealed that new Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte is the "best manager in the world" and that playing in Serie A is the league he as "always dreamed" of playing in.
"I was always a big fan of the Italian league," Lukaku said to Sport Mediaset while on international duty. "I have two leagues which I always dreamed about which are the English league and the Serie A.
"So for me the Serie A is my favourite league as well. I love Italy."
"With the transfer of [Cristiano] Ronaldo, I think the Italian league is now coming back. Antonio Conte going back to Inter Milan, which is really good because he is, to me, the best manager in the world.
"And then you have Maurizio Sarri going to Juventus and [Carlo] Ancelotti at Napoli. So I think Serie A will be really exciting next year and I'm really happy for Italian football."
It is understood that no club has made an official approach for the United forward.
Sheffield United not in for Ribery
Sheffield United have denied that they are interested in signing Frank Ribery after reports suggested they may weigh up a move for the free agent, who recently ended a long spell with Bayern Munich. What a sentence that is!
Longstaff preparing for another season at Newcastle
It seems that Sean Longstaff will begin next season at Newcastle United rather than Manchester United.
The young midfielder was heavily linked with a switch to Old Trafford in the summer, but has been quoted on the Newcastle website reacting to the Premier League fixtures that were released this morning, which suggests he will be staying put.
“It’s tough. It doesn’t look as bad as last year’s (start) but I think in the Premier League every team has so much quality, so there is no real easy game,” he told nufc.co.uk.“There’s no game you look for and think, ‘good, we’re playing them’ – it’s not like that. It’s going to be tough.
“We know the situation we’re in in terms of the teams you play against, and the top teams have got so much money these days, but it’s exciting – it’s a challenge. Hopefully we can build on last year and see if we can pick up more points than we did then.”
United remain interested in Maguire
Manchester United will continue to their attempts to sign England defender Harry Maguire despite Leicester's high asking price.
Leicester have put a £90m valuation on the defender, according to the Evening Standard, but that has not stopped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer urging Ed Woodward to target the 26-year-old.
It's no secret that Solskjaer wants young but quality players to bolster his defence as part of the rebuild required to make United into a competitive side again.
The club saw a bid in the region of £40m rejected for Crystal Palace defender Aaron Wan Bissaka but are preparing to respond with an increased offer.
Midlands manager movements
It's all going on in the dugout at West Brom and Birmingham this afternoon.
Gary Monk could be on the brink of a shock exit from Birmingham after his relationship with chief executive Xuandong Ren reached an all time low.
Local reports claim the pair have been growing distant since the end of the season to the extent where the former Leeds and Swansea manager is ready to walk away from the club.
Elsewhere, West Brom are close to appointing Slaven Bilic as their new manager on a two-year deal.
Markus Schubert was one of the players that Sven Mislintat identified during his short stint as head of recruitment at the club.
More on Jack Pitt-Brooke's exclusive transfer story:
Juventus target Pogba and Sarri
The Italian champions are sweeping up in England this week as their sporting director, Fabio Patrici, holds meetings in London to conclude some deals.
According to Sky Italia, Paratici met with Manchester United officials in London to discuss the possibility of bringing Paul Pogba back to Turin.
He also discussed Maurizio Sarri's future at Chelsea and was told Juventus need to stump up £3.5m to release the Italian from his contract.
Suarez: Arsenal spell was a "year to forget"
Denis Suarez revealed he was never fully fit during his unproductive loan spell at Arsenal.
The Spanish midfielder joined the Gunners on loan in January and returned to Barcelona after the club decided not to look at a permanent deal.
Suarez made six substitute appearances in Unai Emery's side and recently told Spanish radio station Cadena SER that he arrived in north London half as fit as he needed to be.
"I'm still recovering from the injury, I'm practically fully recovered," he said.
"On the 16th day of arriving at Arsenal I was not even 50 per cent, it was a year to forget but also to learn.
"I have been in Barcelona for two months recovering from the injury and nobody from Barca has told me anything."
NEW: Liverpool not planning fresh bid for Nabil Fekir
The club are understood to have not changed their stance follow last year's failed bid.
As expected, West Brom name Slaven Bilic as their new manager.
Bilic was sacked by West Ham after two seasons in charge and oversaw the move to the London Stadium.
West Brom were expected to quickly return to the Premier League after being relegated but lost on penalties against Aston Villa in the play-off semi-final after sacking popular manager Darren Moore towards the end of the campaign.
“I’m delighted with this opportunity of course," he said.
“We want to improve, we want to improve on the pitch and Albion have convinced me they want to return to the Premier League. Albion have a short-term project and a long project and they do not clash.
“They wanted me to lead them, to help improve them. They made it clear they wanted me to be the one to lead them in this and I didn’t think twice once they had spoken to me."
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