The summer transfer window is approaching and there’s plenty of gossip swirling about who’s moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings and goings and, of course, done deals!
TOP STORY: Barcelona aim to land Lacazette on a free transfer
Barcelona have already had joy in bringing in one striker on a free transfer from Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but Sport says they are targeting another.
Alexandre Lacazette, 30, has a contract which expires at the end of the season and looks set to move on this summer with former club Lyon showing interest in bringing him back to France.
However, Aubameyang’s success since moving to Camp Nou in February could persuade Lacazette to join up with his friend once more.
Lacazette has scored six goals in 29 games this season, with eight assists, but has struggled to impact games at the Emirates and manager Mikel Arteta is ready to let him depart.
Barca are tracking a new striker and have Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah on their radar, but all three would require big wages and a transfer fee, so Lacazette could be a cheaper option for the financially stricken club.
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LIVE BLOG
14.14 BST: Chelsea have spent almost £150m on signing Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner in recent years, but Football Insider claims that the club want a new striker.
Lukaku has 12 goals in 34 appearances across all competitions, while Werner has seven in 28 this season, and both have struggled in front of goal.
Manager Thomas Tuchel wants a new “world-class” forward instead, though the report doesn’t link any player with a move.
13.42 BST: Barcelona manager Xavi says that he hopes Gavi and Ronald Araujo will sign new contracts.
He told reporters: “Gavi and Araujo are very important to us for the future. Barca cannot allow them to leave. I want to think that both of them will renew their contract.”
He added: “I see Ousmane Dembele very happy, if he wants to stay he should talk to the club.”
12.52 BST: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said Ajax manager Erik ten Hag could be a strong candidate to succeed him.
Ten Hag is also among a handful of names linked to the top job at Manchester United as interim manager Ralf Rangnick‘s tenure is set to conclude at the end of the campaign. Sources have told ESPN that Ten Hag has held talks over the role at Old Trafford.
Guardiola joined City in 2016 and has a contract until the end of next season. He said in January he might make a decision on his future this summer.
“Could Erik ten Hag be here at City? Definitely. I think he could be the one,” Guardiola said. “For the way he approaches the game, definitely.”
Guardiola worked with Ten Hag at Bundesliga club Bayern Munich for two seasons when Ten Hag was in charge of the second team.
12.35 BST: Will Harry Maguire get his Man United career back on track?
0:46
Ralf Rangnick doesn’t think Harry Maguire will be booed at Old Trafford as he was at Wembley.
11.40 GMT: West Ham manager David Moyes says England midfielder Declan Rice is worth at least £150m.
Rice, 23, has attracted interest from both Chelsea and Manchester United, but Moyes wants to keep him.
“The first thing to say is that he is not for sale,” Moyes told a news conference. “But if you are interested, it will be north of that, because £100m was cheap last summer and £150m just now would be minimum – but he is not for sale.
“I look at what Tottenham did with Harry Kane, albeit it in a different way. They said, ‘no, there is a price and if someone wants to pay the price, then we’d probably do it. If they don’t then he’s not going anywhere’. That’s it, they have kept him. In many ways, the football clubs are the people in charge, they’ve got the contracts.
“There will be times when players have got the power, but at the moment we have got Declan on the best part of a three-and-a-half-year contract — just like Tottenham have got Harry Kane on a contract and they control what happens.”
11.18 BST: Borussia Dortmund right-back Thomas Meunier has revealed a January move to Barcelona fell through because the German club were not willing to let him leave mid-season.
Barca were in the market for full-backs, with Ajax left-back Nicolas Tagliafico also targeted, but were unable to get anything over the line other than the return of 38-year-old Dani Alves on a free transfer.
“When Dortmund told me Barca were interested, it sounded fantastic,” Belgium international Meunier told HLN. “However, they immediately said ‘Sorry, you can’t go.’
“Opportunities like those only come along once and you cannot say no. It wasn’t easy, but I understood, it was only about a week before the end of the transfer window.”
Meunier says he even spoke with Barca’s sporting advisor Jordi Cruyff: “They wanted to loan me with an obligatory option to buy or even buy me outright. Dortmund are a great club, but Barca is something else.”
The arrival of Meunier would have raised further questions over the future of Sergino Dest, with sources telling ESPN in January that Barca were willing to let the United States international leave.
Dest, 21, has since impressed in Barca’s recent return to form, helping them climb to third in LaLiga and reach the Europa League quarterfinals, and could yet have a future at the club beyond this summer.
10.31 BST: Brazilian club Flamengo are running the risk of missing out on a permanent deal for Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira with negotiations still not yet finalised, sources have told ESPN.
Flamengo have agreed a fee of around £10m, including a clause for a percentage of any future move for the 26-year-old midfielder, who has also accepted a lower salary than he is on at Old Trafford.
But with Flamengo not yet in a position to complete the deal because of uncertainty around their finances, clubs from Spain, the Netherlands and England are circling.
09.36 BST: Barcelona president Joan Laporta says he will sit down with Ousmane Dembele‘s agent to re-open negotiations over a contract extension.
Laporta effectively ruled out handing Dembele a new deal in January, with his current terms up in the summer, after the French forward turned down the club’s initial proposal.
Barca threatened Dembele with spending the rest of the season in the stands, but Xavi Hernandez opted to restore him to the side and he has repaid his coach with a series of impressive performances.
“He’s out of contract in the summer and we have to sit down and talk,” Laporta told TVE on Friday. “I know he’s comfortable in Barcelona, we will see what happens.”
Laporta has regularly flipped his stance on Dembele’s future. In the past he has gone from saying he is “better than Kylian Mbappe” to trying to force him to sign for an English club in January.
Meanwhile, Laporta once again reiterated his stance that the club will not break the bank to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland.
Since returning to the presidency, Laporta’s been forced to drastically reduce the wage bill, overseeing the departures of big earners such as Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho.
“We aren’t going to sign anyone that alters the salary system we now have in place,” Laporta said when asked about Haaland.
Barca are one of the clubs keen on the Norway international, with Manchester City and Real Madrid also among the favourites to sign him this summer.
09.00 BST: Manchester City are optimistic they can see off competition from Real Madrid to sign striker Erling Haaland this summer, sources have told ESPN’s Rob Dawson.
City are in the market for a striker and are confident they can put together a financial package to cover the €75m release clause in Haaland’s contract with Borussia Dortmund (which comes into effect this year), the Norwegian’s wages and other associated fees including payments to agents.
Sources said that the departures of Angelino, Ferran Torres and Jack Harrison (for combined fees of around €85m) have left City in a strong financial position ahead of the summer window.
They also believe the lure of working with Pep Guardiola and a track record of success which has seen the club win three of the last four Premier League titles can convince Haaland to spend the next stage of his career at the Etihad Stadium.
2:00
Gab Marcotti and Stewart Robson debate whether Barcelona should focus on extending Ousmane Dembele’s contract.
PAPER GOSSIP (by Adam Brown)
– Internazionale are set to commence talks with Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger, according to Ekrem Konur. The 29-year-old is yet to agree new terms at Stamford Bridge as the final months tick down on a contract that expires at the end of this season, and the Germany international does not look to have decided his next destination, despite reported interest from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. With Inter potentially parting ways with Stefan De Vrij, it looks as though the Italian club has identified the Premier League star as a long-term replacement.
– Barcelona will keep a close eye on Jules Kounde when they meet Sevilla in LaLiga on Sunday (stream LIVE on ESPN+), writes Sport. However, while interest is reported to be genuine, Barca may have to offload players to secure the 23-year-old, with Sevilla looking for €70m. The 23-year-old defender is also on Chelsea’s radar.
– Borussia Dortmund have shelved contract talks with Dan-Axel Zagadou, according to Sport1. Injuries have restricted the defender to just five starts in the Bundesliga this season, and the BVB hierarchy is reluctant to offer new terms to the 22-year-old, who joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.
– Carlo Ancelotti is pushing for Real Madrid to sign Fabian Ruiz, reports Calciomercato. Despite Napoli being open to extending the 25-year-old midfielder’s terms, he has stated his desire to return to Spain. Just months remain before he enters the final year of his contract, which could force the Serie A side’s hand.
– Manchester City have beaten Barcelona and Arsenal to secure the signature of talented youngster Henry Oware, reveals the Daily Mail. The 18-year-old defender joins from Ghanaian side West Africa Football Academy in a deal worth £800,000; Pep Guardiola is reported to have already planned to loan him to Troyes.
– Milan have identified Porto striker Mehdi Taremi as a potential Zlatan Ibrahimovic successor, reports Calciomercato. The 29-year-old has scored 18 times in 39 games for the Liga NOS side this season and is valued in the region of €20m. Divock Origi is an alternative if no agreement can be reached for the Iran international.