The latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Manchester United, Chelsea, Fulham and more.
It’s once again time for our regular morning round-up and review of the biggest and juiciest new Premier League transfer rumours – and today, we’re starting off with some news for the Manchester United fans amongst you.
According to The Daily Mirror, United will “turn their attention” to Sporting midfielder Morten Hjulmand should they fail to secure a £100m-plus deal for Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba before the end of the summer transfer window.
The Cameroonian “remains their top target” but with the size of the deal presenting an obstacle and with Brighton expressing their desire to keep hold of Baleba, they may be forced to turn to Denmark international Hjulmand instead, one of Ruben Amorim’s former charges in Lisbon.
The 26-year-old would allegedly be available for around £50m, and Amorim is “known to be a fan” of a player he signed from Serie A just a few years ago. With cash “not freely available” at the moment, a deal for Baleba is looking a rather more distant prospect than many at Old Trafford would like.
The 3AM Verdict: A number of different media outlets are offering up their (very different) suggestions forManchester United’s Plan B, but Hjulmand’s name seems to be cropping up with more frequency than most. That may just be because of the link with Amorim, of course, but the Dane certainly fits his old manager’s system very nicely. We do feel like a deal for Baleba looks a little unlikely as it stands given the finances involved, although there are always ways to amortise the payments and make things a little more palatable.
Chelsea inch towards two transfer deals
Two stories in one for Chelsea fans, now, as they edge closer to securing two deals – one of which has been expected for some time, and another which comes slightly out of the blue.
Firstly, Florian Plettenberg reports that Bayern Munich have “opened talks” with Chelsea over a potential deal for Christopher Nkunku, who is said to be “keen” to head back to the Bundesliga. The issue is that Chelsea want a permanent sale, while Bayern would prefer a loan. As such, no agreement has been reached, but Bayern are said to be taking talks “seriously”.
Perhaps more unexpectedly, TeamTalk also hint that centre-half Trevoh Chalobah could be leaving, with Inter Milan “exploring the possibility” of a loan deal. It had seemed likely that Chalobah would stay at Stamford Bridge following Levi Colwill’s ACL injury, but Chelsea have “yet to make a final decision”, apparently, despite Enzo Maresca openly saying that he wanted the club to sign a new centre-back.
The 3AM Verdict: If Chalobah was being sold permanently in a way that would top up the transfer fund, loaning one of their better healthy defenders would make rather more sense – as it is, this seems strange to us, but given theway Chelsea do business, rather plausible nonetheless. We suspect a deal with Nkunku will happen, but it may be one that takes time.
Fulham ‘keeping an eye’ on Brazilian star
As Fulham prepare for the expected departure of striker Rodrigo Muniz, they have found a potential replacement in Brazil – at least, according to Sport Witness, who note stories from South America which suggest that the Cottagers are “keeping an eye” on Palmeiras forward Flaco López.
The Argentine player has scored 13 goals in 39 games for his club this season and has already drawn attention from overseas, with Mexican outfit Monterrey reportedly having a £9.5m bid rejected “flatly” already.
Fulham are likely to lose Muniz to Atalanta before transfer deadline day and are casting around for a replacement as a result, but the 24-year-old López isn’t the only player linked – but as most readers will have noted already, several outlets in Britain (The Daily Mirror among them) believe that they are actually more interested in bidding for Manchester United’s Rasmus Højlund.
The 3AM Verdict: López feels like a bit of a hipster’s choice here and the connection only seems to have been made by one journalist, so until we see more corroboration we’ll suggest that a bid for Højlund could be more likely – although AC Milan stand in the way on that front.
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