Man United target ‘outstanding’ Crystal Palace star as Newcastle prepare bids for midfield duo

It’s Friday at long last, not that the day of the week changes our job – to keep you up-to-date with all the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours currently floating around the global media. Today, we’re going to kick our round-up off with a story which suggests that Manchester United are targeting one of England’s most promising young players.

Caught Offside claim that the Red Devils are preparing a summer bid for Crystal Palace’s “outstanding” midfielder Adam Wharton, who impressed enough to earn full international honours within months of signing from Blackburn Rovers a year ago – although injury has interrupted his attempts to follow that form up in his second season.

Palace would ask for “big money” for the 21-year-old, unsurprisingly, and although there isn’t any detail on the finances such a signing might involve we do learn that the way is being cleared for United because other teams, including Arsenal and Liverpool, are now looking elsewhere. Whether Wharton would fit into Ruben Amorim’s system any better than those currently at the club remains to be seen, of course...

The 3AM Verdict: United have some serious cash flow problems at the moment, so we’re pretty sceptical about the odds of them making lots of really big deals, and there will be other priorities, especially up front. We’re sceptical that this one happens this summer, but we don’t doubt that United would be interested if the money was right.

Liverpool look for Luis Díaz replacement

Let’s head across to Liverpool now, with Spanish rumourmongers Fichajes claiming that the Reds are lining up Atalanta winger Ademola Lookman as a “possible replacement for Luis Díaz – with his suddenly deteriorating relationship with manager Gianpiero Gasperini contributing to his chances of leaving this summer.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are bracing for bids for Colombian winger Díaz and as such are lining Lookman, who had an uninspiring spell at Everton before becoming the hero of last year’s Europa League final. There’s little detail in the story and certainly no word on how much he might cost, but he “fits the profile they’re looking for”, so is on the shortlist ahead of the summer window.

The 3AM Verdict: There’s nothing especially implausible about this story but we should note that Fichajes is not noted for its reliability, so keep those pinches of salt handy, please. But Lookman does seem likely to leave Atalanta this summer (and did even before his manager openly slated him for his missed penalty in the Champions League play-off round) so don’t be surprised if Liverpool are on the look-out.

Two midfielders on Magpies’ radar

Finally, let’s head up to the frozen far north for TBR Football’s story about Newcastle United’s summer targets – specifically, they want a midfielder, and “continue to work” on a deal for AS Monaco’s 22-year-old “technician”, Maghnes Akliouche, who Paul Mitchell is apparently very keen on.

An attacking midfielder by trade, Akliouche can also play on the wings, and it’s possible that he’s being looked at as cover there as well. There’s no detail on how much he might cost, unfortunately, but there is a note on another player that the Magpies are keen on – Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier, who has a broadly similar playing profile.

The 3AM Verdict: Both players fit a similar bill, but unless Eddie Howe sees them as wingers there would have to be a shift in the system to accommodate them – they’re more like number tens than anyone currently on the books at St. James’ Park. Without knowing the numbers, we can’t really say how plausible either of these deals are, although we would suspect that they’d be paying for rotational players, not necessarily regular starters.