Tuesday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

Manchester United are considering a move for Emi Martinez but may be put off by Aston Villa's £40m valuation of the 32-year-old Argentina goalkeeper. (Mail), external

Colombia winger Luis Diaz, 28, remains determined to leave Liverpool during the summer transfer window and is hoping Bayern Munich will make a new offer in the coming days to try to convince the English club. (ESPN) , external

Newcastle United are in danger of losing out to Manchester City in their attempt to buy 22-year-old Burnley and England goalkeeper James Trafford. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Trafford is "very keen" to return to City this summer after they hijacked his Newcastle deal. (Football Insider), external

Newcastle will offer Tino Livramento a new contract to try and ward off interest from Manchester City, who are prepared to pay £65m for the England full-back, 22. (Times - subscription required), external

Manchester City are not planning a move for Livramento and are looking at other targets for the position. (ESPN), external

Tottenham are set to rival Liverpool for the signing of Crystal Palace's 25-year-old England centre-back Marc Guehi. (Star), external

Manchester United's hopes of signing Nicolas Jackson have received a boost after the Chelsea and Senegal striker, 24, rejected AC Milan and Napoli because he wants to stay in the Premier League. (Sun)

Aston Villa, Chelsea and Tottenham are monitoring the situation of 21-year-old Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho, with clubs believing the Argentina international could be available for about £40m. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Juventus will step up their efforts to sign England winger Jadon Sancho, 25, from Manchester United when Belgium winger Samuel Mbangula, 21, and 25-year-old USA striker Timothy Weah leave the club. (Tuttosport - in Italian), external

Manchester United are set to compete with Manchester City for the signature of 26-year-old Sporting and Denmark midfielder Morten Hjulmand. (A Bola - in Portuguese) , external

Chelsea are interested in RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons, 22, but may need to sell some players first to make room for the Netherlands international in their squad. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

West Ham are interested in Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, with a formal approach expected soon for the 25-year-old Dane. (Sky Sports), external

Nottingham Forest are working on a deal to sign Bologna's 22-year-old Switzerland winger Dan Ndoye. (Guardian), external

Liverpool and England Under-20s midfielder James McConnell, 20, is close to signing a new long-term deal with the club and going out on loan for the season. (Mail), external

Sunderland and Fenerbahce remain interested in Granit Xhaka despite Bayer Leverkusen rejecting both their bids for the 32-year-old Switzerland midfielder. (Florian Plettenberg), external

Napoli, AC Milan, Roma, Juventus and Inter Milan are interested in Liverpool's 27-year-old Italy winger Federico Chiesa. (Calciomercato - in Italian), external

Everton have spoken to Real Sociedad over a deal for 24-year-old Japan winger Takefusa Kubo. (Teamtalk), external

Fulham are expected to complete the signing of Montpellier's 34-year-old French goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte in the next few days. (L'Equipe - in French), external

Galatasaray are targeting a move for 26-year-old Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has one year left on his Paris St-Germain contract and has yet to agree to a new deal with the French club. (Tuttomercatoweb - in Italian)




Sky Paper Talk

DAILY MAIL

Manchester United have failed in a shock attempt to sign Emi Martinez on loan as they look to solve their goalkeeper conundrum.

Manchester United are understood to be upset with Brentford for dragging out the talks by raising their demand to £77m, and putting pressure on Bryan Mbeumo to lower his wages to get the United deal done or agree to join Spurs instead.

 Liverpool youngster James McConnell is close to signing a new long-term deal at the club and going out on loan for the season.

Aston Villa are open to improving the contract of Morgan Rogers in the coming months following his outstanding displays last season.

THE SUN

Manchester United have received a boost in the chase for Nicolas Jackson after he snubbed Napoli and AC Milan- but they will have to pay Chelsea £80m for the striker.

Wrexham are fighting Derby for forward Josh Windass, 31, after he left Sheffield Wednesday.

Sheffield United are tracking Icelandic striker Daniel Gudjohnsen, son of Eidur, in case they come into money.

Rob Holding is on the radar of MLS clubs as his Crystal Palace future is in doubt.

DAILY TELEGRAPH

Manchester United are braced to take big financial hits on Ruben Amorim's £300 million "bomb squad" as the club throw their support behind the manager.

Tottenham Hotspur retain an interest in Marc Guehi, although it is not certain the club will make another bid for the Crystal Palace defender.

THE GUARDIAN

Nottingham Forest are weighing up whether to make an offer for James McAtee, who Manchester City value at £35m.

THE TIMES

Newcastle are ready to offer Tino Livramento a new deal in wake of having to fend off interest in Alexander Isak.

Manchester City are in talks to re-sign James Trafford from Burnley with Ederson's future unclear.

DAILY RECORD

Royal Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha's representative insists that while the Belgian is not against the idea of a move to Celtic - but talks have yet to take place.

Barry Ferguson has spoken for the first time since leaving Rangers - and says he wouldn't change a thing about his time in the dugout.

SCOTTISH SUN

Celtic have been handed a boost in their potential pursuit of a Le Havre defender Etienne Youte with his club open to a lower fee.




Guardian Rumour mill

Tom Davies

Manchester United are stopping at nothing in their efforts to win the transfer gossip column inches Club World Cup. With the summer-long saga of Bryan Mbeumo’s future finally settled in their favour, they’ve set about linking themselves with a whole range of new targets. Among them, Nicolas Jackson. The Senegal forward has been nudged down Chelsea’s pecking order in recent months but United reckon he could be just the man to illuminate some mid-table scraps. According to the Metro, United have intensified their interest in Jackson but Chelsea will want a whopping £80m-plus to top up their profit and loss stats. Jackson has rebuffed Milan and Napoli but wants to stay in the English top flight.

Also in Ruben Amorim’s sights is Emiliano Martínez. With André Onana ruled out for the start of the season, United need some goalkeeping resource and Aston Villa’s Argentinian World Cup winner fits their needs. Villa, however, will want at least £40m.

Switching Traffords now, from Old to James, the Burnley and England keeper is embroiled in a tug of love between two petro-states, as Manchester City and Newcastle tussle for his signature. The latter have been pursuing Trafford for a while and had a £27m bid turned down in June, but the keeper is now reported to be keener on a return to the Etihad.

Newcastle are also trying to fend off Manchester City interest in Tino Livramento. The Times reports the Toon are preparing an attractive new contract offer for their England full-back but City are circling, waving £65m in Newcastle’s direction. Of more interest to Newcastle fans might be their reported interest in Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani. The France forward, who was on loan at Juventus for the second half of last season, has been a reported target for Premier League clubs for years and Newcastle are now seen as his likeliest destination.

Todd Boehly’s Chelsea know no other way than spend, spend, spend (along with the creative selling necessary to achieve it) and they’re now being heavily linked with the Dutch international Xavi Simons. Chelsea representatives reportedly held talks with Simons’s club, RB Leipzig, on Monday evening and a deal for the attacking midfielder could be in the offing. Though Arsenal have also registered interest in the £61m-valued player.

Sunderland are stepping up their interest in 2024’s Granit Xhaka and may be able to snap him up from Bayer Leverkusen for £15m. The Black Cats are likely to face competition from Fenerbahce for the industrious 32-year-old midfielder, who is reported to fancy a return to England, though the Bundesliga club are reluctant to let Xhaka leave.

Another Mill perennial, Marc Guéhi, is being linked with a move to Tottenham, who failed with a late £70m bid for the Crystal Palace defender in January and from whom the Eagles would seek at least £50m this time round. Liverpool’s interest in Guéhi is well known but Spurs can – we must keep reminding ourselves – also play the old “we’re a Champions League club too you know” card this season, so who knows?

And Nottingham Forest have apparently barged their way towards the front of the queue to sign the Hellas Verona right-back Jackson Tchatchoua. They’d need to find at least €12m (£10.4m) and beat off rival interest in the Cameroon international from Milan, Inter and Napoli.





C&H

Smoke and mirrors as West Ham revert to type

Leopards don’t change their spots: Neither, it seems, do West Ham United change their ways. Just two weeks ago, West Ham’s spokesman was telling everyone that the club ‘hoped to bring in one or two strikers’.(hammersnews). Yesterday Claret and Hugh’s source tells us that ‘Graham Potter doesn’t want to sign a striker this summer‘ and then just this morning there’s the report that most West Ham fans have been dreading: Worse than Jamie Vardy, (who actually wouldn’t be such a bad bet) worse than Dominic Calvert Lewin, Callum b****y Wilson is being lined up as a West Ham signing seemingly without Graham Potter even wanting him.

Now we know why Potter’s stance was ‘we don’t need a striker this summer‘: Loosely translated that obviously means ‘I’d rather have no striker than an old Premier League has-been with a dodgy injury record’.

Has nothing been learned from the signing of Danny Ings? 12 months ago the player – who wasn’t wanted by Moyes but signed anyway – was clinging on despite the club wanting him to leave for Southampton: Ings stayed, as was his contractural right, for another 12 months on the salary he was entitled to of over £100k a week. Unused by Moyes, Lopetegui and Potter, he became an embarrassment and an expensive ‘bench blocker’.

As Claret and Hugh wrote last night, in the upbeat article about West Ham’s two promising youngsters El Hadi Malick Diouff and Callum Marshall,  nobody is fooled by ‘the club’s” stance: We suspected all along that Ings 2.0 would be foisted on Potter:

“Even if, as we all suspect, Potter does get a ‘freebie’ striker to-ahem- ‘help out’ before the end of the window”. Meant half in jest, it seems those words have come back to haunt me pretty quick.

Short-term-ism, it seems is alive and well at London Stadium in an embarrassing tug of war played out in public.

Despite Potter’s claim that this was going to be an exciting summer window, it seems for West Ham fans it is just a case of ‘nothing has changed’ and nothing learned. Instead of a young, dynamic up and coming striker from Europe or maybe from the Championship, the Hammers will have a 32 year old German with a injury history and apparently now another 32 year old with an injury history, neither of whom will be worth a bean come the end of their contracts.

Suddenly I hope Potter does get his way and Callum Wilson goes elsewhere: It’ll mean at least, that the Manager is running the football side of the club. But I’m not holding out much hope.




TBR

West Ham now want to sign another ‘incredible’ Leicester City star along with Mads Hermansen

West Ham United are ready to spend the money they received for Mohammed Kudus.

The Irons struck a £55 million deal with Tottenham Hotspur for the sale of the Ghana international attacker, and they now need to replace him.

A new attacking midfielder is on the agenda for Graham Potter, but the Englishman is also interested in strengthening a couple of other positions in his squad.

A new goalkeeper is a priority, and Mads Hermansen is a target. Now, West Ham are interested in one of his Leicester City teammates as well.

West Ham are keen to bolster the middle of their park this summer.

A new attacking midfielder is on Potter’s wish list, but the Hammers boss is keen to add a number six to his side too in the coming days.

The futures of Guido Rodriguez and Edson Alvarez are both unclear at this moment, which is why West Ham are looking at options on the market.

Ben Jacobs has revealed that Leicester City star Wilfred Ndidi has emerged as a serious option, while his teammate Hermansen is also someone the Irons are interested in.

Former Leicester midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who is currently at Chelsea, is also a target for the East Londoners.

Jacobs said on talkSPORT: “A quick word on West Ham United because now that they’ve sold Mohammad Kudus to Tottenham, I expect West Ham to have a little bit more financial leeway to really get going. My expectation is that Graeme Potter is going to be pushing this window for an attacking midfielder and also a number six.

“And the latest player that I’ve heard on the radar for number six is Wilfred Ndidi, who has been discussed by Manchester United, Everton, Real Betis and Juventus and even Saudi. There are so many clubs in for Ndidi that my feeling is that it will resolve itself relatively quickly.

“Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is another option in the eight role for West Ham United. And then, goalkeeper is going to be a big one too. And my expectation is that West Ham are going to approach Leicester for Mads Hermansen, who was a player Leicester didn’t want to leave 12 months ago, but they had a valuation of about 35 million.

“Now, the feeling is with West Ham that the number is going to drop because 12 months have passed, but he is contracted until 2028 still. So we’ll have to understand whether, because Leicester have gone down, there’s a deal to be had more in the £20-25 million mark, which is West Ham’s expectation, or if Leicester are going to stick to this £30-plus million mark.”

Should West Ham sign Wilfred Ndidi?

West Ham have to sort out the futures of Alvarez and Rodriguez in the coming days.

Both players are expected to be moved on in this window, and if that does happen, the Irons will need a replacement in that number-six role.

Ndidi, who Brendan Rodgers hailed as ‘incredible’, would be a very smart signing.

The Nigerian may not be the big-name player Irons fans are hoping for, but he has bags of Premier League experience and has fared brilliantly against the big sides.

With Leicester relegated and Ndidi set to leave, we think the 28-year-old would be a very good signing for the Hammers, if the price is right.

[With Kind Regards]

Thanks Alan.

[Barty888]

"Sheffield United are tracking Icelandic striker Daniel Gudjohnsen, son of Eidur, in case they come into money"

Get in there West Ham! The kid has got world class potential!!!

[Texas Iron]

Cheers…