Newcastle & Palace target gifted midfielder plus Arsenal’s £40m summer Plan B

Another day dawns, and that means we’ve got a whole new batch of brand spanking new Premier League transfer rumours to get through – and we’re going to kick things off with news of a young midfielder who seems to be on half of the shortlists in the top flight.

22-year-old Merlin Röhl, a versatile and technically-gifted midfielder (and part-time left-back) who’s been impressing in the Bundesliga with Freiburg lately, has earned himself quite a lot of attention from the Premier League, according to Sport Witness – with Crystal Palace and Newcastle United the latest teams to monitor the Germany Under-21 international.

Apparently both teams “have their eye” on Röhl ahead of the summer transfer window, but they aren’t the only ones – Everton allegedly had two bids knocked back over the course of January, and Liverpool supposedly have the youngster on their radar as well. Anyone who wants to sign him will have to pay “significantly more than his current price tag of €12m”, according to the article, although we aren’t clear where that £10m valuation actually comes from.

The 3AM Verdict: This story stems from German tabloid Bild, but their reputation when it comes to rumours is better than most of the British redtops that we’re used to – so don’t count this one out. This seems to be a watching brief from Newcastle and Palace for now, so nothing may come of it, but Röhl has the ability to demand a big move soon.

Newcastle eye ‘fastest player in the Premier League’

Another story for the Geordies now, courtesy of Give Me Sport, who allege that Eddie Howe remains keen on a right winger, and is particularly keen to have another crack at the supposed “faster player in the Premier League” – Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga.

Newcastle made a last-ditch bid to sign Elanga on the last day of the summer transfer window, so we knew there was interest already, but this report claims that they are “still monitoring” the Swede. Not that he’s the only player who could be on the way to St. James’ Park – the article also notes that reports in Italy hint that Howe might try to sign PSV’s Johan Bakayoko, who could be worth around £33m and has a fair turn of speed of his own…

The 3AM Verdict: There’s minimal detail on Newcastle’s alleged interest in Elanga, which often makes us sceptical of such stories, but with months to go until the next window there may not be much detail around to develop. We’ve seen Newcastle linked with Bakayoko before, incidentally, and he’d be an interesting and highly direct addition to the squad.

Arsenal develop Nico Williams back-up plan

We’ll finish things off today with a tale from Caught Offside which should be of interest to Arsenal supporters – apparently their hunt for a winger will go on this summer, and while their “preferred option” would be Athletic Club’s Nico Williams, they have also identified a back-up plan in the shape of Borussia Dortmund left winger Karim Adeyimi.

Adeyimi apparently wants to leave Dortmund this summer, and he’s Arsenal’s “Plan B” in case they can’t land the in-demand Williams – although we should note that the article implies that this is more the opinion of their reporter than a story based on concrete knowledge of the Gunners’ scouting. Stories elsewhere allege that Dortmund want around £40m for the 23-year-old Germany international, who has scored six goals in 18 games this season.

The 3AM Verdict: This feels like guesswork rather than a report to us, to be blunt, and Adeyimi is one of those players whose name gets thrown around a lot, so we’re not sure there’s much for Arsenal fans to get excited about – not that he doesn’t fit the profile of the kind of winger they’re looking for. Williams would still be one hell of a Plan A, mind you, so Gunners fans should hope that they don’t have to get on the phone to Dortmund in the first place…