Left in the departures lounge dabbing his eyes with a hanky as the rest of Liverpool’s squad flew off to their pre-season boot camp in Germany, Fabinho looks to be on his way to Saudi Arabia. The 29-year-old Brazil midfielder is the subject of a £40m bid from Al-Ittihad, where he will line up alongside Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Jota, among others.
In need of a replacement, Liverpool are believed to be sniffing around Manchester City fringe player Kalvin Phillips, who is also attracting “come hither” looks from West Ham and Newcastle. Should he fail to land the England international, Jürgen Klopp could focus his attention on Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch or Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat instead.
Having been stripped of the Manchester United captaincy in recent days, the jig looks very much up for Harry Maguire and with his arm now unencumbered by a thin strip of nylon, the central defender could be off to West Ham, who have £105m worth of Declan Rice money burning a hole in their summer war-chest.
Back at Old Trafford, Erik ten Hag is ready to welcome Inter goalkeeper André Onana, who is en route to England for a medical and finalise his move for the thick end of £50m. Once the Cameroon international puts pen to paper, he’ll fly out to the US to join his new teammates on the money-spinning summer tour his Dutch manager almost certainly won’t mention when he’s complaining about United’s oppressively busy schedule at Christmas.
In Australia on their pre-season jolly, West Ham are hopeful of signing Mexican midfielder Edson Álvarez from Ajax in what could be a forlorn bid to fill the Rice-shaped hole in their squad. AZ left-back Milos Kerkez could be on his way to Bournemouth, who are on the verge of snapping the 19-year-old Hungary international from under the nose of Lazio, while midfielder Giovani Lo Celso is close to severing his ties with Tottenham, with a move to Napoli on the cards.
The Italian champions’ exciting young winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is reported to be the subject of an £82m club-record bid from Newcastle, who are ready to ship Allan Saint-Maximin out of St James’ Park to free up a dressing room peg for the Georgian or his £35m-rated Leicester counterpart Harvey Barnes.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the latest Chelsea player trudging disconsolately towards the Stamford Bridge door marked “Do One!” and is ready to take a significant pay cut to sign for Marseille. Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers is ready for a reunion at Celtic with his former Leicester captain Jonny Evans, who has been training with Manchester United to maintain his fitness since becoming a free agent at the end of last season.
