The future whereabouts of James Maddison remains a source of intrigue, with the Leicester midfielder reported to be open to a move to Newcastle. Having had a £40m bid for the midfielder rejected, the St James’ Park outfit have increased their offer to what would constitute a club record £50m but Leicester are holding out for £60m. They may, however, be tempted to take Martin Dubravka as a makeweight in any deal.
With Kasper Schmeichel close to signing for Nice after 11 years of service at the King Power Stadium, Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen had been expected to duke it out for the position of first-choice goalkeeper at Leicester, while Nick Pope seems a certainty to be between the sticks for Newcastle when they entertain Nottingham Forest in their season-opener on Saturday.
In other goalkeeping news, Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga could be off to Napoli on loan, while Bernd Leno is just a couple of coughs for the doctor away from finalising a more permanent move from Arsenal to Fulham. The latter two clubs have agreed an £8m fee for the 30-year-old German who will undergo a medical this week. Arsenal have been tenuously linked with a move for Chelsea striker Timo Werner, who seems far more likely to head for Juventus or return to RB Leipzig if he ends up leaving for more first-team football. Having already brought Gabriel Jesus in to play up front, Arsenal are sending their young striker Folarin Balogun on loan to Reims.
After losing Christian Eriksen to Manchester United, Brentford could replace him with his compatriot Mikkel Damsgaard. Sampdoria are reported to have accepted an offer of around £13m for the Danish midfielder, who will move to west London if he can agree personal terms with the Bees. Damsgaard spent much of last season on the sidelines with what was originally believed to be a knee injury but turned out to be far more serious potential career-ending illness.
“It was a very aggressive form of arthritis,” he said. “There was no improvement, it felt like it was never going to heal but thanks to the collaboration between Italian and Danish rheumatologists, a new therapy was designed and gave an excellent response.”
Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville has agreed a new and improved contract with Leeds, as have fellow youngsters Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood. Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Eric Bailly is headed for the door marked “Do One” and looks likely to ignore overtures from Roma boss José Mourinho in favour of signing for Sevilla.
