Despite a breakthrough season at Paris Saint-Germain, where he registered double digits for both goals and assists in Ligue 1 and made a sizeable contribution to the club’s maiden Champions League triumph, Bradley Barcola finds himself as the odd one out in Luis Enrique’s forward line. Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia appear to be in the box seats for PSG’s starting XI, the latter signing in January from Napoli, which has meant the absurdly talented Barcola could move on this summer. Europe’s elite are lining up, fluttering their eyelashes at the 22-year-old, with Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool seen as frontrunners, should Barcola (and PSG) decide to move on.
Nothing stirs the heart quite like the words “Japanese wonderkid” and the latest J1 League star to make his way to England is Kota Takai, who is on the verge of a £5m move to Tottenham from Kawasaki Frontale – which would constitute a record sale from the Japanese league. The 20-year-old centre-back is already a senior international and, standing at 6ft 4in, is expected to slot straight into Thomas Frank’s first team, competing for a place alongside Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin.
