Liverpool & Everton battle for exciting rising midfield star as West Ham make late defender movesplaceholder image
Liverpool & Everton battle for exciting rising midfield star as West Ham make late defender moves | Getty Images
Rounding up some of the biggest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, Chelsea and more.
There are just three days of wheeling and dealing left before the transfer window closes, and to help you stay up to date with the likely comings and goings, 3 Added Minutes are back with our regular evening round-up of all the biggest and strangest new Premier League transfer rumours which you might have missed today – starting with a story with a strong Merseyside flavour to it.
Sport Witness bring a couple of different sources together to suggest that both Everton and Liverpool have “come forward” to sign talented Norwegian midfielder Jens Hjertø-Dahl, a towering 20-year-old who is an Under-21 international and a regular at club side Tromsø.
Everton have already “made moves” to secure the youngster’s signature, with Liverpool apparently doing the same, although it’s not suggested that those ‘moves’ amount to a formal offer as yet.
If either side plans to make a bid, then they may need to move fast. Besiktas have reportedly lodged a bid worth €7m (£6m) already, while Bologna and Lazio are also reportedly interested in striking a deal for the imposing youngster.
The 3AM Verdict: The report speculates that Hjertø-Dahl’s agents could be hyping up Premier League interest in order to drive the price up, and that’s certainly possible – from what we understand, both Liverpool and Everton are looking to avoid spending much before deadline day and it’s possible that the proposed price is enough to put them off. We’ll find out soon enough.
West Ham ‘in talks’ over Chelsea deal
Over to a story from Sky Sports now, who state that West Ham United are now “in talks” with Chelsea over a late move for unwanted defender Axel Disasi, who remains available despite his recent return to first-team training at Cobham.
The deal would be a “straight loan” with no obligation to buy baked into the deal, with West Ham keen to add some fresh defensive reinforcements following the termination of Igor Julio’s loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.
Another player who is “being considered” by the Hammers is Southampton and England centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis, apparently, but that move is implied to be rather less likely as the 24-year-old is “not for sale” with the Saints still harbouring hopes of a play-off push.
The 3AM Verdict: This isn’t the first reliable outlet to report that Disasi could move to West Ham, and it’s beginning to look like a fairly likely deal to happen – we suspect that a deal for Harwood-Bellis is indeed rather unlikely. This may not be a move which inspires West Ham fans, but at least it’s likely to be cost effective.
Fulham ‘muscle in’ on Crystal Palace wonderkid bid
We’ll cast our eye over another story from Sport Witness now, which cites sources from France in suggesting that Fulham are set to try and “muscle in” on Crystal Palace’s bid for young Angers forward Sidiki Cherif.
Palace have been in negotiations for the 19-year-old since last week, with Championship side Wrexham also alleged to have made an audacious move to get in on the bidding – and now Fulham have “joined the race” as well after the Cottagers found themselves struggling to sign PSV’s Ricardo Pepi, their preferred target for the winter window.
Palace’s initial €20m (£17.3m) bid was rejected by Angers but the teenager is still expected to be on the move soon. Fenerbahçe are also in the mix – but any deal could be complicated by the news that Cherif was injured last weekend, and it’s still not clear how long he might be sidelined for.
The 3AM Verdict: Unless the injury is more severe than expected, it’s likely that Cherif does leave Angers before the end of the current window – but it no longer seems as though Palace have this transfer locked up. Fulham are a believable suitor with their current transfer situation, despite striking a deal for Oscar Bobb, but both they and Palace could be frustrated, withFabrizio Romano also reporting that Cherif would prefer to move to Fenerbahçe.
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