Those canny folk at RB Leipzig have learned their lesson from a summer of wild haggling with Liverpool’s transfer-negotiating team over Naby Keïta – which ended with the English club agreeing to pay the midfielder’s release clause in full with an additional extra bonus for being nice. Thus they have reacted speedily to rumours that Liverpool are now interested in their French defender Dayot Upamecano – by offering the 18-year-old a new contract with an eye-watering €100m buy-out option, and then gathering to celebrate their own ingenuity in a shadowy basement bar heated entirely by the friction caused by rubbing their hands together and the hot air released as they discuss what to do with their next Premier League-related windfall.
A host of Premier League clubs queueing up for a chance to seduce Schalke’s Leon Goretzka are about to be seriously disappointed, as Barcelona prepare to barge, elbows flailing, to the front of the line. The midfielder’s contract in Germany ends next summer, and Mundo Deportivo winningly describe the wild transfer frenzy that is resulting as “un bingo espactacular” for the 22-year-old. On Thursday Bild suggested the player intends to move either to Bayern Munich or Barça, and a day on we hear that to guarantee sealing the deal Barcelona are not going to hang around until next July, but will offer €10-€15m to sign Goretzka in January. They will clear space in their midfield ranks by shifting out Arda Turan, André Gomes and Rafinha.
That means one Rafinha’s on the market. Chelsea’s dreams of signing the other, Bayern Munich-based Rafinha however lie in ruins after the defender announced that he has “Bayern in my heart” and the club “can always count on me”. However he went on to reveal that his grasp of the full meaning of the word “always” is somewhat disappointing, adding that “I really want to play, otherwise I will have to think about my future”.
Talking of talented midfielders who could be available on a free transfer, as we were just a paragraph or two back, Manchester United are hot on the tails of the Santos 27-year-old Lucas Lima, whose contract in Brazil ends in January. The player’s agent, Luccas Badia, says that Barcelona, Roma and Internazionale are also keen, as well, slightly less prestigiously, as Crystal Palace and Fenerbahce, who both tried to snap him up in the summer. “I think he would be well suited to Serie A but we will see,” Badia said.
Neymar’s ongoing fall-out with Edinson Cavani looks potentially terminal for the Uruguayan’s chances of an extended Parisian sojourn, with the Spanish paper Sport asserting that the Brazilian “has already communicated to Nasser al-Khelaifi that his coexistence with Cavani is totally impossible and he has asked for the transfer of the Uruguayan striker”. This development has, according to the Mail, “put Everton, Chelsea and Napoli on high alert” – a list of clubs that may well have been compiled with reference to yesterday’s Mill – while Juventus, Internazionale and Borussia Dortmund are potential rival bidders.
Finally Victor Lindelof’s wife, Maja Nilsson, has blasted Manchester United for coercing their players into renting executive boxes – “If you don’t buy one, you’re considered a loser” – while charging eye-watering prices for them – “I’m not even going to tell you how much, but a disgusting amount”. However, as quoted on the back page of the Express, despite her misgivings over the whole box-rental thing she does rather like the experience. “Having a box is wonderful. You get your own waiter.”