Chelsea plot outrageous £78m swap deal as Newcastle eye shock move for Liverpool star

The transfer market feels especially frantic right now, and to help you keep track of all the latest goings-on, we’re back with our latest round-up and review of all the juiciest new Premier League transfer rumours – starting with a story concerning Chelsea and Aston Villa.

Caught Offside build on existing reports concerning Chelsea’s supposed interest in Morgan Rogers by offering some details of a possible transfer package – and suggest that negotiations for the 22-year-old Aston Villa and England star “will begin around a figure of €90m”. That’s £78m to those of us on this side of the Channel.

The Blues want to “reduce the asking price”, understandably, and could as such offer players as part of a swap deal. There’s no mention of which players might be thrown in, but one would imagine that Axel Disasi, who spent half of last season on loan at Villa Park, and Nicolas Jackson, a reported target for Unai Emery, would be at the top of the list.

It “remains to be seen” whether Villa would actually consider allowing Rogers to leave at all, it’s claimed, and Chelsea would certainly “have to pay a premium” as the article suggests, but a recent brush with PSR problems may encourage Villa to consider a big sale.

The 3AM Verdict: The only new information here, really, is the details of the asking price and the plan for a potential swap deal – but they appear to come from Spanish website Fichajes, which in our opinion can be politely described as spectacularly unreliable. As it stands, Chelsea would love to sign Rogers, Villa probably don’t want him to leave, and the scale of a deal makes it rather unlikely. It’s far from impossible, mind you.

Newcastle set for shock Liverpool striker bid

The single biggest story of the week has undoubtedly been the battle between Liverpool and Newcastle United for the signature of Hugo Ekitike – and the tangential involvement of Alexander Isak – but a new story from GiveMeSport suggests that a shocking twist could be about to emerge.

Building on a report from German tabloid Bild, they suggest that Newcastle are planning a “surprise summer move” for Darwin Núñez, whose mooted move to Napoli seems to have collapsed with the two teams unable to agree upon a valuation.

Eddie Howe has apparently decided that Darwin is “an alternative to Ekitike”, who is “pushing” to join Liverpool ahead of the Magpies. Not that the consistently inconsistent Darwin is the only name on Newcastle’s list, with Victor Osimhen also mentioned as an option.

The 3AM Verdict: The bulk of this story is a rehash of Bild’s reporting, and we do wonder how much of an inside track a continental tabloid would really have on Newcastle’s plans – especially given that a move for Darwin seems a little far-fetched. Osimhen also appears very likely to be going back to Galatasaray, too. We’re raising a sceptical eyebrow at this one.

Fabrizio Romano offers update on Manchester United deal

We’re going to end this little digest as we started it – with a story about Aston Villa potentially selling a key player. In this case, TeamTalk report the latest updates on a story which had Manchester United making a £33m move for reigning Yashin Trophy champion Emiliano Martínez.

United are said to be “exploring the market for additions” between the sticks after André Onana picked up an injury which is expected to keep him out of pre-season, and apparently there had been claims in Argentina that United were “prepping” a bid for Martínez – but Fabrizio Romano was on hand to sprinkle some cold water on it.

The Italian transfer hound suggests that United “not made any bid” and that while they did speak to the player’s representatives back in June, there has been no movement since. United are said to be focussing on getting the Bryan Mbeumo deal over the line before worrying about anything else.

The 3AM Verdict: We’ve heard the Martínez-to-Manchester United story from a few sources, and it’s not that far-fetched, but we doubt the £33m price tag given his age and drop-off last season. All told, we suspect Romano has his facts straight on this one and that while some exploratory conversations have happened, they’re not going anywhere for now.