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A round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Liverpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds and more.
As the summer transfer window nears, the amount of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes is increasing steadily, and the gossip columns are starting to become rather busy places – so to help you keep up to date, we’re here with 3 Added Minutes’ regular morning round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours, starting with a story involving Liverpool and Aston Villa.
According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool are looking at striking a deal for Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez with the World Cup winner seen as a potential replacement for Alisson – and internal discussions over a deal are said to be “gaining serious momentum.”
The 33-year-old Alisson looks likely to leave this summer with Juventus particularly keen, and there is “growing confidence” that a deal will be done that offers the Brazilian a fresh challenge. There’s seemingly less confidence, however, in Giorgio Mamardashvili, with Liverpool apparently considering alternatives, including Martínez.
There’s no suggestion that an approach has yet been made nor any speculation as to what the asking price could be, but Martínez is said to be the subject of “strong interest” from Anfield. Aston Villa, for their part, could look to James Trafford as a replacement of their own.
The 3AM Verdict: We expectAlisson to leave but we’re not particularly convinced that Liverpool will look to replace him with another goalkeeper at a similar age range, at least not as a first choice – and Martínez isn’t quite as good as he was when he waswinning the Yashin Trophy a few years ago. There’s not enough background detail here to convince us that this story is true.
Newcastle find potential Anthony Gordon replacement
Over to a story from SportsBoom now, who reckon that Newcastle have already “identified” a target as they search for a replacement for Anthony Gordon, who could be on his way to Bayern Munich: Burnley winger Jaidon Anthony.
The Magpies are said to have “turned their attention” to the 26-year-old after an impressive campaign with the Clarets, and aren’t the only side to have taken notice of his performances – Leeds, Everton and Fulham all previously made enquiries, it’s claimed, but were rebuffed.
With Burnley relegated, however, they are more likely to negotiate and a transfer fee of up to €35m (£30m) is suggested by the report. Newcastle apparently want to get a deal done sooner rather than later, but there’s no word on whether any of the other potential suitors will try to muscle in on negotiations.
The 3AM Verdict: We’re not entirely convinced by what feels like a very speculative report, although Anthony’s work in the Premier League was good enough for a few sides to take a closer look at him. We’re not convinced he’s a key Newcastle target based on what we’ve heard, and note that if he was earmarked as a Gordon replacement, they wouldn’t be in a hurry to get a deal done when negotiations over Gordon are unlikely to be that fast. £30m also sounds like a price tag designed to dissuade teams from getting involved.
Sunderland trying to fend off Leeds interest in star striker
Let’s wrap up with a story from Football Insider, who claim that Sunderland are trying to “warn off” Leeds as the Yorkshire side start to show interest in striker Wilson Isidor – and the Black Cats could demand “sizeable fee” to try and dissuade their fellow Premier League survivors from making a move.
Leeds have put Isidor, who is set to represent Haiti at the World Cup this summer, “on their list of transfer targets” with the club keen to add depth to their attacking line, and apparently their recruitment team intend to “accelerate” their plans for the summer after securing survival on Sunday.
It’s noted that Leeds remain interested in Japan international Ayase Ueda and it sounds as though he’s more of a priority than Isidor, who is admitted to be “not necessarily that high up” on Leeds’ shortlist – but present nonetheless, and a bid apparently remains possible. It’s not clear as to how ‘sizeable’ Sunderland’s asking price might be.
The 3AM Verdict: Football Insider is not, in our opinion, a reliable source. This is a bizarre article which headlines on Sunderland’s desire to fend off Leeds’ interest and then promptly suggests that Leeds might not be all that keen after all. We don’t claim to know how interested Daniel Farke’s side are in Isidor, but we doubt that Sunderland would put up that many barriers to a deal for a back-up player with just two years left on his contract.
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