We start at Manchester City, so bereft of attacking talent, who will try to fill that chasm with Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez with a bid of £60m in the coming days, which leaves Arsenal with a modern twist on a familiar riddle: would you rather have one season of Alexis Sánchez or a silo filled with 60 million £1 coins?
Antonio Conte has fallen out with the boardroom suits at Chelsea over transfer policy. He wants players near their peak with little re-sale value while Roman Abramovich wouldn’t mind seeing a little return on investment. One player they can agree on is Arsenal’s £35m raging forward-midfield-full-back-come-wingback Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is 24 today. Happy birthday Ox! They are also chasing Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater and are keen to ruin Liverpool’s move for Virgil van Dijk – though Saints want £70m.
There are high fives all round at Anfield with rumours that Barcelona have agreed a £90m fee with Dortmund for Ousmane Dembélé, though if it had been a week or two earlier they might not be in such a Philippe Coutinho-shaped pickle. Liverpool’s inspirational leader Steven G … Jordan Henderson will try to talk the Brazilian round.
Tottenham have been encouraged after the Colombia defender Davinson Sánchez has told Ajax he’s off, though that hasn’t stopped the Amsterdam club playing hard ball for the 21-year-old, and they will try to coax £36m out of Daniel Levy.
Elsewhere Rafa Benítez wants five more arrivals over the next two weeks at Newcastle, including Chelsea winger Kenedy on loan, Juventus are eyeing potential’s Jack Wilshere, Jesé is nearing a move to clásico rehab club Stoke City, and Leicester winger Tom Lawrence is heading to Derby County for £7m.