A round-up of the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Chelsea, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and more.
It’s time for Tuesday morning’s edition of our daily round-up of all the biggest and boldest new Premier League transfer rumours – and we’re going to kick things off with a story which concerns both Chelsea and last year’s surprise package Nottingham Forest.
Caught Offside note that while Chelsea remain keen on a reunion with Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi, they are seemingly willing to accept that any chance of a deal might be “slipping away” – and they could target Forest’s Murillo as a result.
The Brazilian only inked a new contract at the turn of the year, but apparently there is an asking price on the table, a hefty €80m (£68.4m). Murillo has been “followed closely” by Chelsea for some time, it seems, and is now emerging as a candidate for a big-money bid.
There are other names on the shortlist, but they all seem to be players that are expected to move elsewhere – Jorrel Hato seems to be set to head to Arsenal, Crystal Palace are leading the charge for Ousmane Diomande, and Piero Hincapié is meant to be close to signing for Atlético Madrid. With all that mind, Murillo could be the only man left on their shortlist quite soon…
The 3AM Verdict: Nottingham Forest absolutely don’t want to sell Murillo, so if Chelsea want to get a deal done it will have to be for silly money, and we suspect €80m would only be a starting point. Normally, we’d think such a move wildly unlikely, but if any club is going to pay well over the odds to get their guy…
Newcastle United target rising Serie A star
Speaking of clubs who are looking at alternatives with Guéhi looking set to move to Liverpool, Newcastle United are also casting about for a new target – and according to TeamTalk, 21-year-old Atalanta centre-back Giorgio Scalvini is a target.
They’ve supposedly tracked Scalvini, who has eight senior caps for Italy already, for two years and while injuries have put them off making a move before, they still view the youngster as a defender who “has the potential to become one of the best in his position.”
It’s claimed that Scalvini’s market value is around the €40-50m mark (£34-43m), but also that Newcastle could decide to wait until January to make sure that the player is at full fitness after missing a lot of time last season. Indeed, it’s claimed that “a winter move could be more likely”, but that no final decision over a bid has yet been made.
The 3AM Verdict: Given his recent fitness record, we’d be surprised if Newcastle wanted to make a bid this summer unless the price was remarkably cheap – and Atalanta have no immediate incentive to sell him for a knock-down fee. We suspect Newcastle will look elsewhere if they can’t strike a deal for Guéhi.
Crystal Palace eye double Juventus raid
Let’s round things off with a story for Crystal Palace fans which suggests that they could sign two Juventus players at the same time – both of whom have plenty of Premier League experience under their belts.
Sport Witness report on a story from the Italian media which suggests that the Eagles are “monitoring” former Bournemouth and Newcastle defender Lloyd Kelly, and are “also interested” in Douglas Luiz, who has struggled in Turin after helping Aston Villa to make it into the Champions League.
Luiz is apparently available for just €25m (£21.4m), just half of the fee Juve paid to Villa last summer, with the club keen to move on and start a bidding war for him by making the initial price as low as possible. Luiz, for his part, would apparently rather leave than stay and fight for his place. Juventus are also happy to sell Kelly and have “a clear price tag” for the player – but the report doesn’t claim to know how much it is.
The 3AM Verdict: Kelly has had a frustrating time of it since leaving Bournemouth but Palace seems like the ideal place to rebuild his career after a tough year in which he played for two different teams. Luiz, meanwhile, will surely have several suitors despite struggling at Juventus, but if Palace buy him at that fee and get him back to his Villa form, it will represent a remarkable piece of business.
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