While the Rumour Mill spent much of last night dreaming it was on a road trip to Inverness with Ad-Rock from Beastie Boys in a vintage Caterham 360R SV sports car made entirely of mashed potatoes and Cathedral City mature cheddar cheese, it seems Neymar has less lofty ambitions preying on his mind when his head hits the pillow. According to L’Équipe, the Brazil striker has told Paris Saint-Germain he wants to leave the French capital and “dreams” of a return to Barcelona. Reports elsewhere say his “people” are in talks with their flustered counterparts in Chelsea’s recruitment department over a move to Stamford Bridge, where the arrivals and departures halls have been busier than Heathrow’s Terminal 5 this summer.
Manchester United remain open to selling Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay to West Ham and are currently mulling over the Europa Conference League champions’ £60m bid for the duo. Should they offload Maguire, United will try to bring in the tough-tackling 23-year-old Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo as his replacement. United are also open to offers for their Brazilian midfielder Fred, who has a number of admirers including the Turkish champions, Galatasaray. Any proceeds raised will be pooled with whatever loose change they can get for Donny van de Beek and put towards the cost of prising Sofyan Amrabat away from Fiorentina. The Chelsea target Tyler Adams and the Everton midfielder Amadou Onana are being considered as alternatives should United fail in their quest to sign the Moroccan international.
Signed to very little fanfare and quite a lot of Gooner grumbling in January, Jorginho ended up being a fairly decent acquisition by Arsenal but could find himself on the move again. Fenerbahce are reported to be giving the Italy midfielder the glad eye, although reports in some quarters suggest he is happy to remain at the Emirates.
Having been linked with moves away from Manchester City for more transfer windows than anyone cares to remember without ever actually going anywhere, Bernardo Silva once again looks likely to remain at the Etihad if his club’s stance on potential offers from PSG or Barcelona is anything to go by. City’s overlords are adamant they want their Portuguese superstar to stay and have drawn up and sent him a generous new contract to sign, should the mood take him.
Chelsea want the Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic and Juventus want the Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, in a potential swap deal that sounds like it ought to be fairly straightforward but almost certainly won’t be anything of the sort. Meanwhile at Crystal Palace, Michael Olise is reported to have admirers at both Manchester City and Chelsea, even if his manager doesn’t seem sure. “No one knows really at this moment in time,” said Roy Hodgson, upon being asked about the 21-year-old’s future. “If there are clubs who are desperately or seriously preparing a bid and tempting him away then he’ll have a decision to make. He also knows we are really very keen to keep him here.”
Having underwhelmed at Leicester last season, when he scored just four goals as his team sank into the Championship, Patson Daka could be given to opportunity to repeat the feat if Everton get their way. Meanwhile on the red half of Merseyside, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has labelled Liverpool’s attempts to sign Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia as “embarrassing” after the club he represented with such distinction had a third bid of £45m plus add-ons rejected by the Saints, who are steadfastly holding out for £50m.
