Man United 'interested' in £40m PL rival's talisman as Tottenham take huge step towards dream summer signing
The latest Premier League transfer news including stories concerning Man United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle and more
Gameweek 34 of the Premier League is now underway, and we’re gearing up for another exhilarating weekend of football action as England’s top tier accelerates towards its finale. Arsenal and Manchester City’s epic tussle for the title continues, while the relegation battle promises to serve up further twists and turns as the tension continues to ramp up.
On top of that, it’s also FA Cup semi-final weekend, with now managerless Chelsea, Leeds United, Southampton and Manchester City looking to book their place at next month’s showpiece event at Wembley. A Europa League spot is up for grabs for the winner of the competition, which will be mightily handy for all of those sides apart from high-flying Man City, who will play in the Champions League next season.
Meanwhile, off the field, we’re less than two months away from the summer transfer window creaking open, which is set to spark a frenzy of wheeling and dealing among Premier League sides. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the latest transfer stories:
Man United have ‘concrete interest’ in Cole Palmer
First up, we’re off to Old Trafford, where Manchester United are said to be keeping a close eye on Chelsea’s Cole Palmer. Caught Offside claim the Red Devils have “concrete interest” in the England international... and that’s about as detailed as the report gets in terms of United’s interest.
What follows is a multitude of reasons why the deal won’t happen, which include: it’s unclear whether he actually wants to leave Chelsea; the Blues stance is that he is categorically not for sale; he has a long-term deal running until 2033; if the player were to force a move, he’d cost £150m; United want to keep Fernandes, and finally, if Palmer were to arrive, he’d have to play out of position.
In summary, then, Man United are interested in Palmer, much like I have an interest in enjoying an all-expenses paid cruise around the world, before opening the batting for England’s Test cricket team in the next Ashes series and rounding things off by headlining Glastonbury playing lead guitar for The Cribs.
The 3AM Verdict: It really is an odd story, given that is devotes almost the entirety of its content to explaining why a deal is unfeasible. Also, United have been linked with Palmer since January, so news of their apparent interest really isn’t groundbreaking stuff.
Palmer has also made is pretty clear in a recent interview with the Guardian that he has no plans on returning to the city of Manchester any time soon, and that he’s fully committed to Chelsea. The latter is easy enough to row back on, but publicly referencing his home city as one he has no desire to head back to in a hurry is a little trickier to brush under the carpet.
Tottenham make early transfer breakthrough
Meanwhile, Tottenham are popping the existential crisis of potential relegation on the back burner for now, and busying themselves with some early recruitment business. Transfer guru Florian Plettenberg follows up reports we covered last week on Tottenham’s pursuit of Bournemouth defender Marco Senesi, where things look to be progressing rapidly.
It is said that the Argentina international and Spurs have now “reached an agreement in principle” and that he has “given his commitment” to join the club upon the expiry of his contract at Bournemouth this summer. Crucially, it is noted that this all hinges on Tottenham staying in the Premier League, which is still far from a foregone conclusion.
The 3AM Verdict: Tottenham have understandably been the butt of many a joke this season. However, this will be an excellent bit of business if they do indeed manage to pull it off. Signing a proven, quality Premier League centre-back without spending a penny is a real rarity, and doing so would allow Spurs to plough their budget into strengthening other positions.
Newcastle could sell flop striker after just one season
Let’s finish things off at Newcastle, where it’s fair to say the Magpies had a bit of a disaster in terms of sorting out their striker situation last summer. The Alexander Isak saga went all the way down to Deadline Day, putting the Magpies in the position of having to panic buy. They did just that, blowing over £120m on Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
The latter has endured a dire, injury-hampered debut season at St. James’ Park, and Football Insider claim the Magpies are ready to cut their losses this summer, going as far as to suggest they’ll “listen to any offers” for the DR Congo international. It’s also said that Eddie Howe has “no confidence” in the forward and that he’s made a case for the recruitment team to move him on.
The 3AM Verdict: Given that he scored 19 Premier League goals for Brentford last season, Wissa is far from a dud. With a decent pre-season behind him, the 29-year-old has all the tools necessary to turn around his Newcastle career. Still, Howe’s system is Howe’s system, and if the club has panic bought a player who simply doesn’t fit it, parting ways may be the best solution for all.