Amid all the action at Euro 2020 and the Copa America, the summer transfer window has opened for some leagues, with Europe’s biggest clubs looking to make a splash in the transfer market. Check out the latest gossip below, and see all official deals here.
TOP STORY: Man United eye Rennes star Camavinga
Manchester United are close to signing Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho for around €90m but they also have an eye on landing Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes to bolster the midfield.
The Daily Mail reports that United representatives have made contact with the French club in a €60m move for 18-year-old Camavinga.
The midfielder only has a year left on his contract and is unlikely to sign a new one, meaning the Ligue 1 outfit could move him on to make sure they don’t lose him on a free next summer.
Further talks are set to be held between United, Rennes and Camavinga’s representatives in the coming week. However, the Old Trafford side aren’t the only ones interested in the player with Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal amongst the clubs interested — though Arsenal’s failure to secure European football may hinder their pursuit of one of Europe top young stars.
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LIVE BLOG
18.36 BST: Wolves face a crucial 24 hours in their pursuit of Porto midfielder Vitinha.
That is because the club have one more day to trigger the €20 million buy option on the attacking midfielder. The 21-year-old, who made 19 appearances last season while on loan at Wolves, will either stay in England with Wolves or return to parent club Porto.
There are conflicting reports on whether Wolves, who have deep Portuguese connections, intend to trigger the option or not.
17.41 BST: Middlesbrough have signed ex-Newcastle and England Under-21 winger Sammy Ameobi to a two-year contract.
Welcome back to the #Boro, Sammy Ameobi! ✍️ #UTB
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) June 29, 2021
The 29-year-old arrives at the Riverside having played the past two seasons at Nottingham Forest, scoring eight times in 77 games for the Tricky Trees. Ameobi, who played bits of five seasons in the Premier League with Newcastle, previously spent a season at Boro on loan back in 2012-13.
17.00 BST: Arsenal will be making a move to sign Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after Euro 2020, says The Star.
Ramsdale, 23, was called up to the England squad at the tournament after an injury to Man United’s Dean Henderson. He started his career with Sheffield United before moving to Bournemouth in 2017 and the Blades re-signed him for £18.5m last summer.
The Gunners are waiting until England are out before making their move, though Sheffield United will be looking for around £40m.
16.33 BST: Eurosport says that Aston Villa want to land Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham this summer.
Abraham, 23, has slipped down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge and is keen to move on for more regular first-team football.
West Ham are following the England international, who missed the cut for Euro 2020, but Chelsea want £40m from clubs wanting to sign him and Villa are leading the way.
16.02 BST: How do MLS teams keep their best players and win things?
1:18
Sebastian Salazar and Herculez Gomes discuss whether the clubs feeding players into Europe will ever be successful.
15.04 BST: France coach Didier Deschamps will remain in charge of the national team despite their shock 5-4 defeat to Switzerland on penalties at Euro 2020, sources have told ESPN’s Julien Laurens.
Kylian Mbappe missed the decisive penalty in Monday’s round-of-16 shootout after the 2018 World Cup winners drew 3-3 with Switzerland after extra-time.
Sources said that Deschamps will meet Noel Le Graet, the head of the French FA, next week regarding his future but the desire is that he remains at the helm of the France national team.
14.42 BST: Tottenham are interested in signing AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie, says Tuttosport.
Kessie, 24, was one of the club’s stars as they finished second in Serie A last season. Champions Inter are also keen on Kessie but would have to persuade him to make the controversial move across the city — as they did with Hakan Calhanoglu recently.
Despite having one year left on his deal, Milan reportedly want €40m from clubs looking to sign the Ivory Coast international.
14.06 BST: Barcelona have terminated the contract of Brazilian midfielder Matheus Fernandes, a player who cost the club €7 just over a year ago.
Fernandes, who had a deal until 2025 with a €300m release clause, made just one appearance for Barca and leaves as part of cost-cutting measures as the club try to reduce their wage bill heading into next season.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has warned they must make big cutbacks if they want to register new signings and a new contract for Lionel Messi, whose current deal expires on Wednesday, within their league-imposed salary cap.
Fernandes, 22, spent the second half of the 2019-20 season on loan at Real Valladolid after signing from Palmeiras. However, he made just three appearances for the La Liga club before returning to Camp Nou.
Barca tried unsuccessfully to move him on last summer but couldn’t find a club willing to take him on a permanent basis or a loan. He remained with the first team, therefore, but made just one appearance under Ronald Koeman last season.
13.43 BST: Chelsea and Real Madrid are keen to sign Roma left-back Leonardo Spinazzola, says Il Messaggero.
Spinazzola, 28, has impressed for Italy at Euro 2020 and the report claims that Roma are open to offers.
Chelsea are looking to move on Marcos Alonso and Emerson Palmieri, with Ben Chilwell needing some competition, while Real Madrid’s new boss Carlo Ancelotti is reportedly a fan of Spinazzola.
13.22 BST: Arsenal’s move for Anderlecht midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga is edging closer, says Fabrizio Romano.
Arsenal have offered €17.5m in transfer fee, with €4.5m as potential add-ons and 5% future sale percentage. However, while personal terms have been agreed with the 21-year-old, Anderlecht are hoping for 15% of any future move.
13.00 BST: PSG are closing on the €70m signing of Inter Milan full-back Achraf Hakimi.
0:53
Gab Marcotti feels Inter Milan have lost out on a valuable player in Achraf Hakimi by letting him leave to PSG.
12.05 BST: Patrick Vieira is set to be appointed the new manager of Crystal Palace, says The Athletic.
The former Arsenal midfielder, whose previous managerial experience came at MLS side New York City FC and French club Nice, will replace Roy Hodgson.
The 45-year-old has previously been linked with Arsenal, Bournemouth and Newcastle’s manager positions.
11.46 BST: Atletico Madrid will turn their attention to landing a centre-forward to provide competition for Luis Suarez now that they have all but wrapped up the €40m signing of midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, Diario AS reports.
According to the newspaper the deal for Udinese’s De Paul is “all tied up” and “only the official announcement is missing.”
Atletico have also agreed a contract extension with Diego Simeone until 2024, and will now focus on bringing in an alternative to Suarez, 34, with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez and Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno the club’s dream targets.
11.02 BST: Arsenal are in talks to sign Benfica left-back Nuno Tavares, sources have told ESPN’s James Olley.
The 21-year-old is viewed as a back-up option for Kieran Tierney, who agreed a new five-year contract with the club last week. Benfica value Tavares at around €12m but the Gunners are confident of doing a deal for less with the player keen on a move to the Premier League.
Negotiations are continuing for Tavares, who made 24 appearances for Benfica last season including a five-minute substitute outing against Arsenal in the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie in February.
Tavares is as an attack-minded full-back who can make a positive impact in the final third, in a similar mould to two other left-backs the Gunners looked at signing in January: Ryan Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt.
Both Bertrand and Van Aanholt will become free agents next week when their contracts expire at Southampton and Crystal Palace respectively. Bertrand is closing in on a move to Leicester City while Van Aanholt has been linked with Galatasaray. Both players are seeking a chance to compete for regular first-team football but Tavares is younger and willing to wait for his opportunity.
10.45 BST: AC Milan “want to close the Brahim Diaz operation as soon as possible,” according to Diario AS, with only the details of the player’s second loan spell in Serie A needing to be agreed with Real Madrid.
The newspaper reports that Madrid and the player would prefer a straightforward loan with no option to sign him permanently, but Milan are not willing to accept that for a second year running and have proposed a €25m permanent option.
Madrid would reportedly only be willing to contemplate that if they reserved the right to re-sign the playmaker for €30m to allow both clubs to potentially benefit from a deal.
10.10 BST: Manchester City have been linked with a £100m move for Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.
1:25
Rob Dawson discusses Manchester City’s possible record-breaking signing of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.
10.00 BST: Fernandinho has signed a new one-year contract with Manchester City, the club have confirmed.
Fernandinho, 36, said he was motivated to sign another deal after losing last season’s Champions League final.
“In my head and my mind, the job is not done yet,” Fernandinho said. “And so that’s why I decided to stay here another year and try to help the team and the club to achieve the goals that they’re looking for. In my point of view, we can do that, there’s still places to improve and to get those targets. And obviously, for me and for my family it’s a pleasure to stay in Manchester for one more year.
“If I can keep doing the same way, leading them inside the pitch, off the pitch, to help them to improve and get better and to perform better during the games, I would be the most happy person there.”
09.18 BST: Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka gave a hint over his future after starring in Switzerland’s defeat of France on penalties at Euro 2020.
Xhaka, 28, is closing on a €15m move to Roma and the midfielder — who was named Man of Match on Monday — was asked by Sky Sport Italia if he would give his postmatch interview in Italian.
“Italian? Not yet…” was the response.
He was then told there are some good language schools in Rome and said: “It’s always interesting to learn a new language. I learned English, why not learn Italian? Let’s see what happens, everyone knows what Roma represents. Today I am an Arsenal player, then I’ll decide my future after the Euros.”
08.51 BST: Premier League side Leeds United are leading the race to sign Barcelona defender Junior Firpo, sources have told ESPN’s Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens.
Firpo, 24, is also wanted by Southampton and several Italian sides, but Leeds have stepped up negotiations with Barca over the last few days and the left-back is keen to make the switch to Elland Road.
Barca and Leeds are still in talks regarding the structure of the deal. They need to agree on a price and on whether the English side sign Junior outright or on loan with a clause to make the move permanent next summer.
Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta has played a key role in selling the club to Junior, who wants to leave Barca in search of regular action and feels he would fit well in Marcelo Bielsa’s system.
Southampton, who are looking for a replacement for Ryan Bertrand, have also sounded out a move for Junior this summer, while AC Milan and rivals Inter Milan are also interested. However, Barca prefer a permanent move to a loan and the English clubs are in the best position to pay a fee.
08.13 BST: Bournemouth announced on Monday that Scott Parker has been appointed as their new manager, after the former Tottenham and England midfielder had officially left his post at Fulham earlier in the day.
The 40-year-old had been mentioned among the many names linked with the Spurs vacancy, but instead he will take on the task of bringing Bournemouth back up from the Championship next season.
Parker was appointed caretaker manager in February 2019 with the club heading for relegation, but brought them back up to the Premier League last August for what proved to be a short-lived return as they were relegated again in May. Later on Monday, Bournemouth announced that Parker had accepted the top job at the Vitality Stadium.
Fulham said first team coach Matt Wells and goalkeeping coach Rob Burch were among a number of backroom staff who had also left the club.
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07.30 BST: Sergio Ramos is assessing approaches he has received from Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich before taking a decision on his future, multiple sources have told ESPN.
The three European giants have all taken an interest in Ramos’ situation after it was confirmed that the veteran defender would leave Real Madrid on June 30 on a free transfer when his contract expires.
The 35-year-old is now weighing up the pros and cons of each option, sources said, with family considerations being an important factor in his decision-making.
ESPN reported last month that City were considering making Ramos an offer if he did not reach a renewal agreement with Madrid.
That interest persists, and the Premier League club would be willing to offer Ramos a two-year contract which would be reassessed in the summer of 2023.
1:25
Gemma Soler joins ESPN FC to talk the latest surrounding Lionel Messi’s contract renewal at Barcelona.
PAPER GOSSIP (by Luke Thrower)
– AC Milan have been offered James Rodriguez and Philippe Coutinho, according to Tuttosport. Both players have come off the back of a difficult season. Rodriguez, 29, joined Everton but was hampered by injuries following a strong start. The Toffees are said to be willing to move the playmaker on for around €10m. Coutinho, 29, made only 12 La Liga appearances for Barcelona last season, having moved for €160m from Liverpool back in 2018.
– Arsenal are interested in Torino striker Andrea Belotti this summer as they look to bolster their attacking options next season. Tuttosport reports that the London club, along with AC Milan, AS Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli, have set their sights on the 27-year-old. The Italy international only has a year left on his deal and could leave on a free at the end of next season. If the forward is set to depart, Torino have valued the player at €34m.
– Four Premier League clubs could be set to battle it out for Internazionale wonderkid Martin Satriano, according to the Daily Mail. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and West Ham United are all interested in the 20-year-old, with the Serie A club willing to move players on amid financial troubles. The striker had 17 goal involvements in 27 appearances at youth level for Inter last season, impressing many with his performances.