A round-up of the latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle and more.
Once again, we’ve scoured the gossip columns to pull together our regular morning round-up and review of some of the biggest (and wildest) Premier League transfer rumours which you might have missed over the past 24 hours – and today we kick off with an eyebrow-raising story involving Arsenal and Aston Villa.
According to Caught Offside, the Gunners are set to “intensify” their search for a new centre-back following the news that William Saliba could be set for a lengthy lay-off due to a serious back injury – and they are said to be “exploring” a bid for Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa.
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Arsenal “really like” Konsa, apparently, although it’s suggested that they’ve yet to make a final decision on what to do as they wait to carry out their own medical tests on the stricken Saliba. There’s certainly no suggestion that any negotiations have taken place as yet.
Nor is Konsa their only option. They’ve also “discussed” West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos internally with Greek defender “likely to leave” the London Stadium, and rising Como star Jacobo Ramón is on their radar too.
The 3AM Verdict: Arsenal could well sign a back-up centre-back to add some depth if Saliba is indeed out for several months, but we can’t imagine for a minute that they’d be prepared to spend the kind of sums required to sign Konsa, nor are we sure that he’d be ready to gamble on nailing a regular starting spot down. We suspect that this is very unlikely to happen indeed.
Newcastle ‘in the picture’ for England international
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Konsa isn’t the only England international defender to crop up in the gossip columns today: According to Sport Witness, who summarise several reports from the Italian media, Fikayo Tomori could be on the move too – with Newcastle “in the picture” as AC Milan consider a sale.
Ruben Amorim’s arrival has apparently increased the chances that Milan move Tomori on after four season at the San Siro, with Newcastle “in the race” alongside newly-promoted Coventry City, whose name was mentioned earlier this week as well. Al-Hilal were keen too, it’s claimed, but the player wasn’t interested.
With his contract running down at the end of the 2026/27 season, apparently Milan will accept some relatively budget-friendly bids, with the transfer fee in the region of €15-20m (£12.75-17m) “being spoken about.” There’s no suggestion that a bid has been made just yet, however.
The 3AM Verdict: AC Milan offered Tomori a contract extension earlier this year but given that it remain unsigned and that a new head coach has come in, there’s at least some chance that he finally moves back to England after years of rumours. Whether Newcastle or Coventry are likely destinations, we don’t yet know – a lot of the reporting surrounding his future is extremely speculative as it stands.
Aston Villa ‘work on’ deal for former Spurs star
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Let’s wrap today’s transfer rumour round-up off with another story from Sport Witness, this time concerning Aston Villa – they claim, citing Portuguese newspaper Record, that the Midlands side have been given time to “work on a deal” for Bayern Munich midfielder João Palhinha.
The 31-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, is taking an extended summer break in part to allow him to negotiate a move, and Villa are now said to be “pushing ahead” with a bid as they work out how to replace the departed Youri Tielemans and the injured Amadou Onana.
They aren’t alone in the chase, however, with Palhinha said to be a “priority target” for new Benfica manager Marco Silva this summer. Apparently the experienced midfielder will cost less than the €30m (£26m) which Spurs might have paid had they chosen to activate their purchase option.
The 3AM Verdict: Everything we’ve seen so far suggests that a move to Benfica is far more likely, so if Villa do hold some interest then they’re going to have to move fast. We suspect this is a situation where they could make a bid if they think the price is right, but there’s not enough corroboration for us to be confident that they’re sincerely interested.