Man City 'up their interest' in key Liverpool transfer target as Aston Villa ‘join race’ for defenderplaceholder image
Man City 'up their interest' in key Liverpool transfer target as Aston Villa ‘join race’ for defender | Getty Images
Rounding up the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle and more.
The January transfer window has started strongly and seems to be heating up nicely as the second week of trading begins – and to keep you up-to-date with all the biggest and wildest new stories, we’re back with our regular daily round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours.
Today, we kick things off with a story from The Daily Mail which suggests that Manchester City will “up their interest” in Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi this month – and are “exploring the possibility” of signing the England defender in January to steal a march on Liverpool.
Arne Slot’s side “retain interest” in Guéhi but had preferred to wait until his contract ran down in the summer in order to sign him on a free transfer, but City may now force the issue after injuries to both Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol ate in to Pep Guardiola’s options at the back.
City think they can win a race which will include several elite European sides if they “go in hard now,” believing that other teams can’t or won’t spend the money. Unfortunately, the Mail’s reporting doesn’t extend to a suggestion of how much Palace would demand to sell their star defender before the end of the January transfer window.
The 3AM Verdict: While this article is fundamentally speculative, it also makes a fair amount of sense and we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see City force this issue, much as they will withAntoine Semenyo. They have the money and the PSR headroom to make big moves over the winter, and striking a deal for Guéhi makes a lot of sense given the number of clubs keen on getting him this summer.
Aston Villa & Newcastle target budget-friendly Spanish star
Speaking of Premier League clubs chasing high-end defenders whose contracts are running down, Caught Offside claim that Aston Villa and Newcastle are among the clubs who will “join [the] race” for Celta Vigo full-back Óscar Mingueza, who is attracting plenty of attention with his deal expiring this summer.
Celta are “open to a January sale” if they can fetch a reasonable price for the 26-year-old, which they are said to view as being around €8-10m (£7-8.5m). The La Liga side are still said to be negotiating a new contract with Mingueza, who has four caps for Spain, but it looks likely that he’ll leave with plenty of suitors.
As well as Villa and Newcastle, other clubs named as “actively monitoring the situation” of the former Barcelona man include West Ham, AC Milan, Atalanta, Como and Marseille. There’s no suggestion that any bids have yet been made.
The 3AM Verdict: Opportunities to get a player of Mingueza’s quality for such a low price are few and far between, so the question is whether sides are ready to stump up now or whether they want to wait until the summer and hope they can get him for free. Villa, for their part, probably don’t have the cash to burn to bid in January, but Newcastle and West Ham could.
Fulham considering improved offer for American star
Let’s round today’s digest off with a story for Fulham fans from Sport Witness, who bring together the latest from Dutch sources with regards to the Cottager’s attempts to sign winger Ricardo Pepi, in whom they are said to have “concrete interest.”
Apparently a bid in the €30-35m region (£26-30m) was rejected by PSV, for whom Pepi plays, but Fulham “could return with an improved offer” for the 22-year-old, who has already scored 10 goals in 21 games for his side so far this season and has been prolific for both PSV and his national side.
PSV “have no plans to sell” Pepi this winter and Fulham will need to up their offer by a significant margin if they are to land their number one target this winter, although no specific fee is mentioned – just that it would be an “exorbitant” amount.
The 3AM Verdict: Fulham have beenlinked with Pepibefore and the reports of a rejected bid come from multiple sources, so we fully believe this story. Without knowing just how much it would take to make PSV listen to an offer, it’s hard to say how likely Fulham’s interest is to come to fruition, however. One to watch.
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