Alberto Moreno gets injured and the world of Liverpool transfer gossip goes into meltdown. So, after various unwelcome bids for Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell were sent back from whence they came, and efforts to transform James Milner into a left-footed 23-year-old international proved unsuccessful, Jurgen Klopp has reportedly decided to pull the trigger on Jonas Hector, Koln’s jewel, and probably the weakest member of Germany’s back four.
That will cost £20mn apparently. Ideally, Klopp would have Joe Gomez spare, or even Mamadou Sakho, but both are crocked. Besides, after Liverpool’s defensive performance against Roma on Tuesday was described as “an example of how you can’t defend; leaving spaces so big you could have cut grass in between”, perhaps the back four could do with some new blood anyway.
Another German defender that could move to Ingerland is Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi. Valencia want £42mn, so naturally Arsenal started the bidding at £15mn. Just like that time when West Ham offered £40mn for Alexandre Lacazette, which was rejected, so the following week Arsenal tabled a bid of … £33mn.
Anyway, in lieu of any actual Mustafi progress, one Arsenal fan/Gatwick customs official confronted the 24-year-old—who was arriving for Valencia’s pre-season matches against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth – on Tuesday by joking: “Sign for Arsenal or you can’t come through.” True story. That’s what it’s come to.
You will know by now that Chelsea want Romelu Lukaku back. What you might not know is that they’re willing to offer Loïc Rémy to Everton as a sweetener to the £65mn already on offer, and that Lukaku is reportedly on the verge of handing in an official transfer request.
In other Chelsea news, Antonio Conte has taken one look at Oscar not tracking back and told him to pack his bags. Since Javier Zanetti retired, Internazionale don’t really care about work rate, and it just so happens that they’ve got a spare £30mn knocking about, which is conveniently about what it would take to snare the Brazilian.
Oscar might have some company on the flight to Milan, with reports in Italy suggesting that Milan are in for Juan Cuadrado.
The Colombian excelled last season for Juventus, and made his name at Fiorentina, and while Conte has said he’s been impressed by Cuadrado in pre-season, the 28-year-old faces some stiff competition for a starting place, with Willian, Eden Hazard and Pedro all ahead of him in the pecking order. Perhaps he will get an opportunity in Chelsea’s latest pre-season match against Milan.
Southampton want to replace Victor Wanyama with Anderlecht’s Steven Defour, who is keen to leave the Belgian runners up after getting all manner of stick from his own fans. He used to play for Standard Liege, you see. Anyway, £6mn should be enough to grease those wheels.
Finally, Brighton have agreed a fee for Tottenham’s Alex Pritchard, who has suffered the ill-fortune of being extremely good at football, but not as good as Christian Eriksen. He’ll cost £8mn, once all the add-ons are totted up.