Arsenal & Spurs ‘tussle’ for £46m winger as Chelsea eye landmark deal for rising Premier League star

The closure of the transfer window may mean that we have to wait a few months for new transfers to take place – but the rumour mill keeps turning over all the same, and we’re still here with our daily digest of the biggest Premier League transfer stories that have cropped up over the past 24 hours.

We’ll kick things off today in North London. Sport Witness have picked up on multiple reports from Spain which suggest that both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were interested in making a move for Barcelona winger Ferran Torres, who made the switch to the Camp Nou back in 2021 for a fee in the region of €55m (£46m).

Apparently, the Gunners “showed willingness” to sign Torres but didn’t make a concrete offer, while a report from Marca suggested both sides were keen but that Barcelona decided that “blocking the forward’s exit” was the way forward. It seems that a few continental teams, including Napoli and AC Milan, were also taking a look but discovered that the Catalan club weren’t prepared to sell.

Spurs and Arsenal remain “very attentive” to the winger’s situation, however, and it’s suggest that both teams could “tussle” for Torres’ transfer in the summer. They will, however, have to “convince” him to leave his current club, with the implication that it wouldn’t be all that easy.

The 3AM Verdict: Torres is a name that crops up all the time in Premier League transfer columns, and if either Arsenal or Spurs were interested, it doesn’t sound like they did much about it. Barcelona are essentially a very strange variety of selling club these days, however, so we suspect that he would be available if either really made a push. Perhaps next summer.

Chelsea target Man City starlet

Over to the West End now – according to a new report from TBR Football, Chelsea had a crack at signing Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly, “making an enquiry” as to whether the 19-year-old midfielder might be for sale just a few days ago.

City were, however, “fearful” of letting Chelsea repeat the Cole Palmer trick from last season and decided that his “high ceiling” was reason enough to keep him around at the Etihad. The report also cites The Daily Mail, however, to suggest that Chelsea “remain interested” and will have another go in the summer. No transfer fee is suggested, presumably because City simply said no rather than setting a valuation.

The 3AM Verdict: A plausible enough rumour, given that Chelsea seem set on collecting young players like a stamp collector goes after Penny Blacks. We certainly don’t find it hard to believe that the Blues made an enquiry, at the very least, but it’s not a specific rumour that we’ve heard elsewhere.

Chelsea forward could face exit from Stamford Bridge

For our final story of the day, we’re going to stick with Stamford Bridge – because AC Milan have “strongly hinted” that they want to keep brand new loan star João Félix around permanently, despite the lack of a purchase option in his new contract at the San Siro, per Caught Offside.

Citing a Fabrizio Romano report and comments made by one of Milan’s directors, it seems as though the Rossoneri “would be open” to a more permanent arrangement due to the “excellent relationship” they apparently have with Chelsea. The comments come after Félix scored on his San Siro debut, with hope that Milan might be “the right place for him” after a career which hasn’t taken off in the way many hoped and expected.

The 3AM Verdict: The decision to sign Félix looks stranger and by the minute, and given Milan’s finances we suspect that Chelsea would make a loss on the deal – but also that they’d be prepared to accept that given the lack of impact the Portuguese forward has had in London. Much will depend on how the next few months go, but this certainly seems eminently plausible.