In news it is safe to say The Mill didn’t see coming this morning, Fabinho’s £40m move from Liverpool to Al-Ittihad has apparently been thrown into jeopardy by rules in Saudi Arabia banning “dangerous and aggressive dogs” from the nation. The Brazilian has two French bulldogs and, although they look about as threatening as a couple of sticks of candy floss, they may be categorised as “dangerous” owing to poor branding when names were being handed out to fashionable pets.
The Mill would have liked Fabinho – and other footballers – to have been put off moving to Saudi Arabia because of other hardline rules there but in the Brazilian’s case it seems the line could be drawn at discriminating against cute dogs. The developments are being watched keenly in Bavaria where, it says here, Bayern Munich are ready to give the midfielder – and his fluffy friends – a new home.
The German champions seem keen to build their team around a collection of ageing Premier League players, with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker still on their wanted list alongside Harry Kane, who looks increasingly likely to leave Tottenham after the longest transfer saga in history but will cost more than £70m.
Chelsea and Manchester City are set to do battle over the signature of nifty young Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Michael Olise. The 21-year-old reportedly has a £35m release clause which City are ready to trigger but tricky Todd Boehly could gazump them with a £39m bid for the hell of it.
PSG have had enough of the Kylian Mbappé sideshow and have started an auction for the France striker. Obviously, a bid from a Saudi club was always going to be on the cards and Al-Hilal are readying a €200m offer with a reported two-year deal worth €200m a year in wages and the possibility of a one-year release clause which can only be triggered by Real Madrid. Whatever this is, it isn’t football.
Maurizio Sarri used to ignore Callum Hudson-Odoi when he was Chelsea manager and, perhaps because he is spiked by guilt, he wants to atone for his lack of care in the past and help the young winger realise his potential at Lazio. He’ll cost a snip at £12m plus add-ons, though Fulham might make a late move for him. If they fail in hijacking that move they may switch their attention to Demarai Gray, who could be available for as little as £7m from Everton.
As for Sean Dyche’s cash-strapped Toffees, it says here they are going to sign … erm … hang on … there must be someone … one sec … um …oh dear.
West Ham will be happy to sell Gianluca Scamacca to Roma if they can rescue Divock Origi from a pretty torrid time at Milan. David Moyes is also keen on Ajax midfielder Edson Álvarez, who looks as hard as he tackles. The Mexican Declan Rice would cost £40m.
And free agent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still perusing a list of clubs he could join, with Besiktas, Brighton and Brentford high up among them.
