Ange Postecoglou’s summer rebuild at Tottenham will require some money spent on defenders because they were pretty much all terrible last season. Davinson Sánchez is rumoured to want out and Clément Lenglet’s future is uncertain, with the centre-back not knowing whether or not he is heading back to Barcelona.
One name emerging as a potential arrival in north London is Galatasaray’s Victor Nelsson, who would cost in the region of £22m after a couple of great seasons in Turkey. The Danish international finished the season with the Turkish title and would be keen on making the step up to the Premier League.
Speaking of the Super Lig champions, Galatasaray have enquired about the Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana to see if there is something to be done there. They had a look at the Ivorian in January but a deal could not be done, so they are back again.
When Manchester United beat rivals City to the signing of Fred five years ago, the fans must have thought they had acquired a man who would one day have a statue outside Old Trafford. Half a decade on, the midfielder has expressed a desire to be a more important figure after becoming a bit-part player under Erik ten Hag and his predecessors. Fulham are monitoring the Brazilian in the hope of luring him to London with the vague promise of more time on the pitch. Another potential Craven Cottage target is the Norwich right-back Max Aarons, who has been linked with an exit from Carrow Road ever since he played his first game for the club. Could this be the year?
With the possibility Jordan Pickford is off to Manchester United, Everton need to come up with a cunning plan to replace him. The most natural thing to do at this stage would be to find another English goalkeeper, therefore Sean Dyche has his eyes on Crystal Palace’s Sam Johnstone.
Crysencio Summerville may not fancy life in the Championship with Leeds and Everton and Feyenoord are willing to offer him top-flight football.
Ellis Simms could be on his way out of Goodison Park with three clubs supposedly interested in the striker who struggled to make an impact during the later stages of the season. Ipswich and Sunderland are thought to be keen on him.
Despite relegation, James Maddison is still a Leicester player. One reason for this is that they want a whopping fee in excess of £50m for the England midfielder. The question is whether Tottenham and Newcastle are willing to go that high.
Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Fulham and West Ham have, according to reports, stuck the Brazilian Pablo Maia on their list of targets, but they could miss out with Napoli desperately keen to land the São Paulo man.
After falling short in the title race, Arsenal are aiming to make some marginal gains. These mainly involve allowing Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka to leave and replacing them with better players. Most notably, and this rumour might not yet have been covered in these pages, Declan Rice and Southampton’s Roméo Lavia.
Nicolò Barella may not be swapping Inter for Newcastle after all. Do not worry, north-east-based lovers of Italian midfielders, Eddie Howe could be teaming up with Milan’s Sandro Tonali after bidding a whopping €60m or €50m, depending on who you believe, for the Italy international. One likely arrival at St James’ Park is Derry Scherhant from Hertha Berlin. The German is a mere 20 years old and the Champions League club think he could be a smart bit of business in the long-term.
