A round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Nottingham Forest, Spurs and Crystal Palace.
Welcome to 3 Added Minutes’ daily round-up of the biggest and juiciest new Premier League transfer rumours – and today we’re going to kick things off with a story which, if proven true, should get Nottingham Forest fans rather excited.
According to TeamTalk, Forest are “the most concrete option” for Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović, who was heavily linked with Arsenal but now seems set to continue his career elsewhere – and he could come rather cheap.
The 25-year-old may be “in no rush” to decide his future but having apparently rejected an offer from Fenerbahçe, he could be offloaded for as little as €30m (£25m), far lower than estimates suggested would be the case back in January. Manchester United have also talked to the Serb’s agent, but are not currently expected to make a bid.
It sounds as though Vlahović’s agent is going to continue shopping him around, so there’s every chance that Forest could have competition for what would be a rather exciting signing. Juventus, for their part, are going to make one last attempt to get him to lower his contract demands in the hope of renewing him, but will sell should they fail.
The 3AM Verdict: Vlahović has been frustratingly inconsistent since moving from Fiorentina a few years ago, where he scored a hatful of goals. At his best, however, he’s a destructive force and would be a pretty thrilling purchase, and potentially a very worthy successor to the ageing Chris Wood.
Spurs target rising Serie A star
Down to the capital now – if Caught Offside have their facts straight, then Tottenham Hotspur are set to be in the mix for Parma’s 18-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni, and are even “considering” making a starting bid of €25m (£21m). Parma, however, want €35m (£30m)
Their scouts have been “monitoring Leoni closely” in recent times, it’s alleged, and have been impressed by the two-footed 6’5” teenager as he broke into Parma’s first team as a centre-half.
The bad news is that Spurs aren’t the only interested party. Napoli, Inter Milan and AC Milan are all keeping tabs on the situation, while both Bournemouth and Wolves could provide competition from within the Premier League.
The 3AM Verdict: We’re at the ‘building hype’ stage with Leoni, which often means a player’s representatives throwing clubs’ names around without anything solid to back the connections up. Whether that’s true in this case remains to be seen, but it doesn’t sound like there’s been a concrete approach as yet.
Palace ready first offer for star defender
We’ll stay in London for our final rumour, which sees Crystal Palace hoping to head off competition for Sporting defender Ousmane Diomande – touted by many media outlets as their preferred successor to the likely-departing Marc Guéhi.
After making informal overtures towards both the Ivorian and his club, Sport Witness claim that Palace have now “kicked off” their transfer effort in earnest and are set to make an initial offer of around €40m (£34m).
That will, in all likelihood, be rejected, with Sporting said to want considerably more, but it does represent the first step towards signing a 21-year-old who has been coveted by a number of European teams, including Newcastle United. It also marks an acceptance that Guéhi is as good as gone.
The 3AM Verdict: Guéhi was always on the move, and this is just a tacit acknowledgement of the fact, but Diomande would be a hugely exciting signing and really quite a coup for Palace. Starting with what does look like a low bid is presumably just a negotiating tactic to temper Sporting’s expectations. We’ll see if anyone else comes in – that, more than anything else, will impact the price tag.
Continue Reading