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Our round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Newcastle, Arsenal, West Ham and more...
Welcome to Thursday’s digest of the biggest and boldest new Premier League transfer rumours – today, we’ve got news on West Ham’s search for a striker and on the multi-way battle developing over one of England’s brightest young talents, but first up we’ve got news from Newcastle United.
Caught Offside claim that the Magpies have “been in contact” with Barcelona over the potential signing of former Chelsea centre-half Andreas Christensen. The Dane is in the final year of his contract at the perennially cash-strapped Catalan club, and could be available for a fee of €30m (£25m).
The 28-year-old could be a cheaper alternative to Marc Guéhi, who Newcastle pursued vigorously over the summer but failed to strike a deal for. Christensen isn’t the only player on the shortlist, apparently, but some form of negotiations seem to be underway regardless. The article also notes that Manchester United are “long-term admirers” of Christensen, but doesn’t suggest that they’re making a bid imminently.
The 3AM Verdict: Barcelona need to raise some funds (yet again) so we wonder if Christensen, an undeniably solid defender, might be available for even less then £25m, but it wouldn’t be an outrageous fee – and would leave Newcastle with some spare cash to spend if they did make a move in January. An intriguing and eminently plausible story.
Big boys battle for Bellingham
Onto a story from TBR Football now – they reckon that a long list of clubs from the Premier League and across the continent are readying bids for Sunderland’s Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of Jude and, it would seem, no less of a talent.
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund – Jude’s former clubs – are both readying bids for the 19-year-old by the sound of it, and Arsenal lead a long list of English sides which also includes Chelsea, Aston Villa and several others. In short, just anyone who’s anyone wants to sign the youngster. There’s no mention of a transfer fee.
The 3AM Verdict: Whether the teams mentioned in the piece are correct or not, there’s little doubt that a whole host of clubs are going to try and sign Bellingham – like his brother, he’s a lavishly talented attacking midfielder who scored seven Championship goals last season and has been hugely impressive already this term.
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West Ham’s striking solution
Last up today, a tale from Sport Witness – via German outlet SportBild – concerning West Ham United’s ongoing search for a striker. Apparently, they’re among clubs “monitoring” 18-year-old FC Nürnberg striker Stefanos Tzimas, who has made a big impression in the 2.Bundesliga this season with seven goals in 12 games.
Whether he’d be in line for the first team or would be more of a long-term investment remains unclear, but there would be a few financial hurdle to leap over – the Greek forward is on loan from PAOK, and Nürnberg would exercise their purchase option of €18m (£14.8m) before selling him to West Ham for a profit. It’s said that West Ham are “really hot” for the youngster, however, so that probably wouldn’t be an insurmountable option.
The 3AM Verdict: Tzimas looks like a real talent, but hasn’t played at the highest level yet – we assume this would be one for the future rather than an immediate answer, so we’d wonder whether West Ham wouldn’t be better served spending big on a centre-forward for the here and now. Still, this isn’t the first time reports from Germany have linked the Hammers with Tzimas, so there may well be truth in the stories.
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