Could the Premier League be about to land the big one? If reports in France are to be believed, then Kylian Mbappé really will leave PSG this summer. Now, of course, and this has been trailed for some years now, it’s Real Madrid who are expected to sign him.
But the Rumour Mill loves to fantasise, and just imagine Mbapps speeding down the wing for Liverpool or Manchester United. Mbappé v Haaland: imagine the Super Sunday hype and excitement? Our league! But what about the money – £240m, since you ask? Both of those teams are loaded with talent in his position, and that it’s elsewhere in the team the ailing north-west giants need strengthening? Well, what about it, and what is the transfer window if not a voyage of fantasy and make-believe? Stars in your eyes, little one, where do you go to dream, as Buck’s Fizz once had it …
Elsewhere in the transfer mercato, and as reported on the Guardian website: Harry Kane saying “ja, nein” in post-match interviews is a possibility; he wants to join Bayern Munich from Tottenham, though Daniel Levy wants to cling on to his man, because that’s what Levy does. Maybe a bid of £100m will bring Dan to the phone.
Arsenal now lead the chase for Declan Rice, the Guardian also reports, their bid adding up to £100m, plus £5m add-ons. That looks to have met West Ham’s pricing, unless a bidding war with Manchester City is to be entered into. And there may be a problem over paying in instalments where City might – somehow - find the money and pay straight out. The fee would represent a Premier League record for an English player, surpassing the £100m City shelled on Jack Grealish two years ago. With Jurrien Timber coming from Ajax and Kai Havertz from Chelsea that adds up to a decent summer for Arsenal, should that all get done.
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Remember Moises Caicedo? All the rage in January, and subject to last-minute bids from Chelsea and Arsenal, but no bids this summer. The Ecuadorian signed a new deal in January, though Brighton expected to sell him in this window. And yet their move for Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus waits on cashing out Caicedo; Alexis Mac Allister having already left for Liverpool.
Chelsea are in a similar position with a couple of strikers: can Inter be tempted to keep Romelu Lukaku for another season? Can Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang be shunted to Galatasaray, having decided that the Saudi Pro-League was not for him? Chelsea want money, having paid £10.3m, but the Turkish club think an unwanted striker should go for free.
James Maddison, a mainstay of these pages for some years, might finally get the move that has been trailed. The fee of £40m looks a decent one from Tottenham’s point of view, and a medical is imminent for a player who turned down a move to Newcastle.
Newcastle in turn may have set their sights on signing Enrico Chiesa from Juventus.
