August 15 – West Ham are growing frustrated in their £30m pursuit of Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, 30, as they feel that transfer talks are taking much longer than they should.
The deal has stalled due to Maguire’s reluctance to leave the Champions League club, and is demanding £7 million compensation from the Red Devils according to reports. Maguire was stripped of his Manchester United captaincy at the end of last season, which has since been bestowed upon Portugal international Bruno Fernandes.
If a move is abandoned for the English international, West Ham could look to Bayer Leverkusen defensive duo Jonathan Tah, 27, and Odilon Kossounou, 22.
West Ham have also solidified interest in 23-year-old Ghana and Ajax attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus as a replacement for Lucas Paqueta, should a £90 million+ move to Manchester City materialise for the Brazilian international. Kudus, who is Ghanaian, impressed in the 2022 World Cup, where he carried his side to their only win: scoring twice against South Korea.
In the latest twist in the transfer tug-of-war between Chelsea and Liverpool, Romeo Lavia has said that he would prefer a move to the West London club, despite having a deal agreed with the reds for over two weeks. The transfer would set Chelsea back up to £60 million and take their spending to almost £1 billion in the past 18 months: more than all of La Liga’s clubs combined in the same time period.
Manchester City have added Rennes winger Jeremy Doku to their wish-list following the departure of Riyadh Mahrez to Al-Ahli earlier this month. The rumour adds to the treble-winners’ extensive shopping list, chasing links with Lucas Paqueta and Michael Olise which could tip their transfer spending to over £200 million this summer
In other news, Aston Villa are close to completing a loan deal for 24-year-old Italian midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo from Galatasaray with an option to buy. Breaking through at AS Roma and showing real promise, Zaniolo’s career was halted by injury, which eventually saw him transfer to Turkey where he regained his form.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1734929819labto1734929819ofdlr1734929819owedi1734929819sni@o1734929819fni1734929819