Like Romelu Lukaku, Tiemoué Bakayoko was widely expected to join Chelsea this summer. But one of them ended up at Manchester United instead, and the other might as well – the Daily Star report that a £35m fee has been agreed between Monaco and the Mancunians for the midfielder. And what might make this development even more upsetting for Chelsea is the fact that they indirectly caused it themselves, by deciding not to sell Nemanja Matic to United because they were in a wild huff over Lukaku’s decision to remain in the north, thus forcing them to seek midfield reinforcements elsewhere. When Tottenham were also unwilling to part with Eric Dier, attention switched to France.
Chelsea will get over the disappointment the only way they know how: by liberally and only vaguely discriminately spraying transfer cash across Europe. Some of it may well be heading towards Madrid, with the Spanish outlet Diario Madridista claiming that they “are obsessed with signing Danilo”, Real’s Brazilian right-back. The move has come “at the express request of Antonio Conte, who wants the defender at any price”, apparently. Real aren’t keen to sell, inevitably, and the €24m that they have so far been offered is not enough to convince them. Also in Spain, AS are reporting that Chelsea are to offer €80m for Álvaro Morata, that it might be enough to convince Real to sell, and that, Lukaku be damned, “he was always Conte’s first choice”.
United, meanwhile, still have a few cheques left in their book. One of them might be winging its way to Internazionale, whose Croatian wideman Ivan Perisic set tongues wagging by liking Paul Pogba’s Instagram post delighting in Romelu Lukaku’s move to Manchester and then posting a picture of himself in an airport. Apparently £45m might be sufficient for Inter to usher him out the door, though his manager, Luciano Spalletti, might make the process difficult. “You keep talking about Perisic and his desire to leave,” he told the press on Sunday, “but we are Inter and we can choose to make different decisions to the ideas of the players.”
Talking of chequebooks, Everton recently found theirs down the back of a forgotten cupboard in a dusty Goodison Park storeroom and now they’re going absolutely wild. Next through the door will apparently be Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Swansea superman, for whom they have already had three bids rejected: a fourth offer of £32m could finally seal the deal, says the Mail.
On the subject of multiple bids finally bearing fruit, Arsenal could be close to a deal with Monaco for Thomas Lemar, with the Mirror reporting that the Gunners are totally convinced the winger wants to head to London, and believe that £45m will be enough to convince his club to let him leave.
James Rodríguez has been the subject of constant transfer gossip pretty much since the start of the last World Cup, a switch to a Real Madrid team who didn’t really need him in 2014 having only temporarily stopped the flow of stories, but this could be the week that it finally ends. The Colombian apparently wants to finalise his future within the next couple of days, pitting Manchester United and Chelsea against each other once again but this time with Paris Saint-Germain also involved. A fee “in the region of £62m” will be required, again according to the Mail.
Finally Leicester are ready to sell the midfielder Tom Lawrence, whose loan move to Ipswich last year ended with him being named player of the season, to Derby County for £7m. Another loan move that could lead to something more permanent is Steven Berghuis’s to Feyenoord, who having had the Watford winger last season now want him back for good. “We hope he signs,” said their manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst. “He also wants to play for Feyenoord. But we still have a few weeks to get deals done.” And Glenn Whelan could be on his way to Burnley, who would be willing to pay £2.5m for the 33-year-old.