Supporters of acute accents rejoice! Rennes’ Jérémy Jacquet is on his way to Liverpool after the Premier League champions won the tug of war with just about every other side in England for the 20-year-old centre-back. After missing out on Marc Guéhi for just £20m, Liverpool will pay £55m up front (plus £5m in add-ons) and became the preferred bidders with the France Under-21 international not joining until the summer.
Speaking of young defenders from France, Chelsea have been linked with Tylel Tati, who, surprisingly, doesn’t play for Strasbourg, but Nantes. The 18-year-old would cost around £26m).
In a turnaround for the ages, Manchester United are now apparently keen to recall Marcus Rashford from his loan at Barcelona – the England international scored again on Saturday – but can’t prevent the Spanish side activating the £26m buyout clause. The trigger has not yet been pulled, so we may have to wait for the summer to know the 28-year-old’s future.
Joshua Zirkzee has said he “can’t wait” to play under Michael Carrick at United, but hasn’t played a minute of football under the interim manager and could be a late departure from Old Trafford. Moves back to Italy and Everton have been mooted – if the Dutchman does join the latter then that could open the door for Beto to join Juventus, who look like they have missed out on Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The Crystal Palace striker looks like he is off to Milan in a deal worth between £30m and £40m. That’s decent money for a man that turns 29 in June, but only a viable sale because they are closing on a replacement. Jørgen Strand Larsen has had a stinker of a season – scoring one league goal for Wolves, in an October home defeat to Burnley no less – but Palace have had a £48m bid for the Norway international accepted, which is more than double the fee Wolves paid Celta Vigo last summer. Yikes!
Having missed out on a deadline-day move to Fulham in the summer, Tyrique George looks poised to join Everton on a loan deal with an option to buy. That would be a smart acquisition for Everton, particularly with Jack Grealish’s injury troubles.
Oleksandr Zinchenko has joined Ajax in a permanent deal after Arsenal cut short his loan at Nottingham Forest, who have had a £14m bid for Arne Engels rejected by Celtic. Brighton’s Brajan Gruda has returned to the Bundesliga for six months, with RB Leipzig pouncing to take the former Mainz midfielder on loan.
