Crystal Palace eye stunning double Chelsea raid while Newcastle United get bad news on £80m centre-back
Our verdict on the latest Premier League transfer rumours, featuring news from Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton and Brighton.
Welcome to your Saturday round-up of some of the biggest, boldest and occasionally strangest Premier League transfer rumours that we’ve spotted doing the media round over the past 24 hours – and we kick-start today’s digest with news of daring double raid being undertaken by Crystal Palace.
TeamTalk claim to have had word from separate sources that Palace are looking into a bid to sign both Raheem Sterling and Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea, with the latter also the subject of interest from AC Milan – the fact that the Italian side are looking for an initial loan is what gives Palace a chance of having their bid accepted.
Sterling, meanwhile, has been linked with Juventus and Aston Villa but apparently would prefer to stay in London, which could be where Palace come in. Chukwuemeka would set a club back around £20m, but there’s no word on just what Sterling would cost a potential buyer.
The 3AM Verdict: The challenge with a deal for Sterling is financial, as he’s on astronomical £300,000 per week wages at Stamford Bridge, but Chelse have tipped their hand by exiling the former England winger from the first-team squad which means a deal will surely get done somewhere. Chukwuemeka, meanwhile, is another player sure to leave - £20m is perhaps steep given he doesn’t have a proven track record behind him. Both stories are cropping up elsewhere too, so we don’t doubt the fact that Palace are at least making enquiries.
£80m Newcastle target prefers to stay put
News now from St. James’ Park, where Newcastle United have apparently made an enquiry to Bayer Leverkusen about the availability of Edmond Tapsoba, presumably in case a prospective deal for Marc Guéhi doesn’t come off – at least, according to Caught Offside, who pull their story together from sources in both Germany and Tyneside.
Apparently Tapsoba had a release clause worth €95m (£80m) and it would take a “really crazy” offer to tip their hand towards selling. Even if Newcastle want to make such a bid, however, they may not get very far, as Tapsoba apparently wants to stay in Germany for another year regardless. That’s bad news, too, for the Saudi Pro League, who were sniffing around.
The 3AM Verdict: If £80m is even close to the final price, that’s too much for Tapsoba, talented though he is. We suspect Newcastle’s alleged enquiry was real but probably more a matter of due diligence about alternatives in case they can’t get the Guéhi deal over the line – that remains the priority, and he’s probably worth the money.
Everton & Brighton line up shock swoop
Some surprising news from the French capital now – according to Sport Witness (citing reports from Italy), Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique has made the decision to ditch Milan Škriniar from his first-team squad ahead of this weekend’s Ligue 1 action. The Parisien club are likely now looking to sell the veteran Slovakian defender.
Among the teams put on alert by this sudden development are Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion, with Juventus also “confident” of getting a deal done via an initial loan. Sport Witness do express a little bit of scepticism about the Premier League links (slightly snarkily noting that he would likely “have his sights set a bit higher” than either Brighton or Everton), but it does seem likely that a very fine defender is now on the market.
The 3AM Verdict: Škriniar is on something in the region of £265,000 per week, so we’ll share Sport Witness’ raised eyebrow here. That’s almost certainly not a price point that either Everton or Brighton can match, and even Juve might struggle a bit. After a hugely successful career with Inter Milan, however, this really is a pretty remarkable development just a year after he joined PSG – but then few players seem to be there for the long haul, whether it’s their choice or not.