Arsenal & Man Utd get boost in £68m transfer chase as Aston Villa face losing home-grown star

Welcome to your Friday digest of all the biggest and boldest Premier League transfer rumours that we’ve seen floating around the internet in the past 24 hours – and we’ll start today with some news that may cause a few Arsenal and Manchester United fans to salivate slightly.

Both clubs showed an interest in Dutch prodigy Xavi Simons this summer but the 21-year-old, who scored a stunning goal against England in the semi-finals of Euro 2024, ended up taking another year on loan in RB Leipzig rather than leaving parent club Paris Saint-Germain on a permanent basis.

But according to a report from Spanish outlet Todo Fichajes, Simons has determined that he definitely won’t return to PSG full-time after his loan spell is done and will instead seek a transfer – with the Premier League his priority. PSG will not currently consider offers below €80m (£67.5m) according to the article, however.

The 3AM Verdict: If Simons really doesn’t want to play for PSG for the long term, there will be a huge market if he plays half as well in the Bundesliga this year as he did last. A huge talent who has already established himself as one of the leading light of Dutch football, £67.5m frankly sounds about right. Do United need another ten, though? We’d look at Arsenal as more likely to make such a big move.

Man Utd to bag £25m starlet

Sticking with Manchester United, however, there’s also a report from GiveMeSport which suggests that they’re considering a bid for Dinamo Zagreb and Croatia starlet Martin Baturina – a name which will be familiar to Football Manager fans and to supporters of Leeds United, given that he turned them down just this summer.

The dynamic midfielder, also just 21 years old, decided to spend one last season with his boyhood club rather than accept a chance to move to Elland Road as part of a £25m transfer package. It’s claimed that United sent scouts to watch him during Croatia’s recent Nations League matches. Dinamo are, however, expected to make a new contract offer in the hope that he’ll hang around a little longer.

The 3AM Verdict: Baturina is a big talent and is widely seen as the heir apparent to Luka Modrić – he clearly loves playing for Dinamo, but presumably the lure of the big leagues will see him leave eventually. One note of caution we’d sound with this story is that we’ve seen United linked with about a dozen midfielders this week alone, and while they’ll probably buy someone next summer, it’s likely that they’re just at the due diligence phase and haven’t decided upon a specific target.

Aston Villa man on Inter shortlist

Lastly for today, we’ll throw some potentially bad news into the mix for Aston Villa fans – if HITC know their stuff, then 23-year-old academy product Jacob Ramsey is now a target for Inter Milan, who plan to make a move at some stage in 2025.

Apparently, Villa “could be tempted” to sell him after he failed to re-establish himself in Unai Emery’s side following injury – although they did reportedly reject an offer from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, suggesting at least some desire to keep hold of him.

The 3AM Verdict: There is no detail whatsoever in this story and no source or transfer fee, which makes us deeply sceptical of the entire thing – normally if a story has been checked and corroborated, you’d get a little more information, so this sounds like hearsay rather than anything concrete. Gossip doesn’t always come from nowhere, mind you…