Sadly, only one British national newspaper has led this morning with a transfer-gossip story, and even that is more of a repackaging of existing rumour than actual freshly-picked organic gossip. Still, here at the Mill we take what we’re given, which is the Sun’s assertion that Chelsea are “closing in on a £100m double swoop for Juventus stars Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro”, with Antonio Conte “ready to pounce” on £45m-rated Bonucci as well as the Brazilian left-back. Although we read elsewhere that Real Madrid, as they so often do, might come blundering into this happy picture and mess everything up.
Liverpool are still secretly working on a deal to sign Virgil van Dijk, but Sky Italy now insist that Chelsea have submitted a formal offer to Southampton and are very much in the driving seat, though it seems unlikely that even someone as deep-pocketed as Roman Abramovich wants to spend £105m of his soft-earned fortune on two new centre-halves when he already has three perfectly good, title-winning ones (indeed, the Guardian believes Chelsea’s interest is in landing either Bonucci or Van Dijk, but not both). One of Chelsea’s other targets is Monaco’s Tiemoué Bakayoko, for whom they have now agreed a fee of £35.2m, according to the Mail, while they’re going to sell Bertrand Traoré to Lyon for £16m.
Juventus meanwhile are working on defensive reinforcements, with Dani Alves the first first-choice member of their rearguard to depart. Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian is the man they want to fill the Brazilian’s right-flank furrow, and apparently the Italian has apparently personally called José Mourinho to beg the Portuguese tactician to consent to his departure. Mourinho is also thinking about defensive reinforcements, with Globo Esporte in Brazil saying that United, Barcelona and Juventus have all submitted offers for Paris St-Germain’s Marquinhos of which the Mancunians’ was by some way the most generous, amounting to some £62m (though they say he’ll stay in France for another year). Meanwhile in Spain Don Balon report that Bonucci is likely to end up in Madrid, leaving Raphaël Varane clear to also head to Old Trafford in return for “a more than generous economic amount”. Having already paid £30m for Benfica’s Victor Lindelof this would leave the Glazers spending £[insert large number here]m of their soft-earned fortune on three new centre-halves when they already have several perfectly average ones.
Last summer Tottenham called someone who works for Schalke and enquired politely about the availability of Max Meyer, and the German club informed them that it would take £39m to prise him out of their clammy grasp. This summer they tried again, and were apparently informed that the asking price had fallen to a giveaway £17.5m, a result of the 21-year-old’s refusal to sign a new contract to replace the one that expires next summer. This is music to Tottenham-shaped ears, and further buoyed by the belief that Liverpool’s capture of Mo Salah takes them out of the market, the Londoners are ready to make their move. Plus they want the Fiorentina midfielder Matias Vecino.
L’Equipe has news of a “secret conversation that changes everything”, between Zinedine Zidane and Kylian Mbappé, in which the Real Madrid coach volunteered to jettison one of his existing first-choice three-man front-line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to guarantee that there will be an Mbappé-shaped hole in next season’s first XI. “Initially not totally convinced by the Madrid project precisely because he feared not having much playing time, Mbappé emerged from the conversation enthusiastic,” they write. This is a blow for Arsenal, who the Mirror report “believe they can land Mbappé in a world-record deal this summer” (the Mail, contrarily, says “the Gunners’ hopes of landing the talented teenager are fading”). Still, on the plus side the Gunners are also closing in on Alexandre Lacazette, and one expensive young French forward is surely enough even if – again according to the Mirror – “Manchester City’s belief is growing that they can land Alexis Sánchez in a deal potentially worth up to £50m”.
And now for news of clubs outside the top six: Leicester are negotiating with Norwich over a deal for the 18-year-old striker Benny Ashley-Seal, who has yet to make his first-team debut for the Canaries but is apparently quite good. And Stoke’s £12m offer for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson isn’t even nearly high enough.