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The latest Premier League transfer rumours, with stories from Aston Villa, Manchester City, Spurs, Liverpool and more.
Every morning, we comb through the gossip columns to bring you the biggest – and sometimes strangest – new Premier League transfer rumours which you might have missed over the past 24 hours, and today we’re starting with a story involving Aston Villa and Manchester City.
According to TeamTalk, Unai Emery’s side have become the “leading contenders” to sign disaffected City goalkeeper James Trafford this summer, and are “ready to compete” with several other Premier League sides to sign the 23-year-old.
Other teams are said to have “registered interest” including Newcastle United, who are “firmly in the race” having tried to sign Trafford prior to his £27m move to the Etihad last year. Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds and West Ham are also mention as being among the young stopper’s “admirers.”
There’s no word on a likely asking price and apparently City would prefer to agree a loan deal, as they’d like to keep Trafford around long term. The player himself apparently “prioritises” a move to Villa Park, although Newcastle are also said to be an attractive destination.
The 3AM Verdict: We’re too far out from the summer to get a really clear picture as to what might happen with Trafford, but Villa have been considering areplacement for Emiliano Martínez for a while, so we don’t have any difficulty believing that they’ll be among the bidders if Trafford does leave. There’s a long way to go, however.
Spurs told £70m target is ‘untouchable’
We’ll stick with Manchester City for our second story of the day while also bringing in Spurs: According to Caught Offside, Spurs could still be interested in signing Savinho, for whom they offered a reported £70m last summer before having their bid rejected.
The bad news for Spurs is that City consider Savinho “untouchable” despite “growing uncertainty” over his future following a stop-start campaign. The Brazilian signed a new contract last summer after Spurs were snubbed, but sides are still keeping an eye on him, with Juventus and unspecified Spanish sides also said to be interested alongside Spurs.
Apparently City might “entertain” offers in the £75-80m region – which doesn’t exactly sound ‘untouchable’ – but the player himself is said to be happy to remain at the Etihad. There’s no suggestion that any contact has been made by other sides as yet.
The 3AM Verdict: Ultimately, this is a story which is saying that nothing is happening, and there’s limited evidence to suggest that Spurs, Juventus or indeed anybody else is sincerely interested right now. We’ve not seen any reason to think that Savinho will leave City this summer.
Liverpool star on Serie A side’s ‘radar’
Let’s finish today’s digest up with a tale which keeps Juventus in the picture, now – Spanish gossipmongers Fichajes claim that the Turin giants have Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson “on [their] radar” heading into the summer, and that talks over a deal “are progressing.”
It’s not clear what sort of talks those are, as the article adds that “negotiations are not yet official” – while also saying that a deal could be agreed before the summer, with the Brazilian apparently “open” to the move. Liverpool, for their part, apparently see it as a good way to facilitate the transition towards Giorgio Mamardashvili, their rather overqualified back-up.
There’s no mention of an asking price or of Alisson’s salary demands as yet, but there are several assertions that all parties are heading towards a switch nonetheless. A “decisive moment” is suggested to be imminent.
The 3AM Verdict: We should start by noting that we don’t believe Fichajes to be a reliable source for transfer stories, but the goalkeeping situation at Anfield needs to be addressed eventually. We’d like to see more corroboration before we believe this particular story, but we’d be entirely unsurprised if Alisson ended up leaving.
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