The latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Chelsea, Brighton, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and more.
We don’t have long before the fax machines fall silent and the summer transfer window finally closes, but until the last agent puts his phone down, we’ll be here with our regular morning round-up and review of the latest Premier Leaguer transfer rumours – and today, we start with a story for the Chelsea fans among you.
The Athletic report that Chelsea are “closing in” on a shock deal to sign Brighton & Hove Albion winger Facundo Buonanotte following the last-minute collapse of their deal to buy Xabi Simons.
Buonanotte, who spent last season on loan at Leicester City, had been expected to travel to Leeds to complete a loan move to Elland Road but never boarded his flight and will now likely sign for Enzo Maresca’s side instead, with the Blues said to be seeking “short-term cover” after the departure of Christopher Nkunku.
Leeds were apparently “confident” that a deal for Buonanotte had been sealed and had a medical booked for the 20-year-old, but will now have to look elsewhere, with Leicester’s Bilal El Khannouss one member of a four-man shortlist which also includes former loan star Manor Solomon.
The 3AM Verdict: Buonanotte was one of the few bright spots in Leicester’s season last year, at least until Ruud van Nistleoory bafflingly benched him shortly after taking charge and steered the Foxes to a long string of defeats. Still, this is a surprising and strange move which will effectively see them developing Brighton’s talent for them – but with Spurs hijacking their move for Simons, this may have been the only quick solution that Chelsea were happy with. Given the strength of the sources, this deal seems to be done.
Crystal Palace’s centre-back targets named as Marc Guéhi deal gets closer
Over to BBC Sport now – their reporter Sami Mokbel claims that Crystal Palace are set to sign two new centre-backs before the window closes and that those deals could “unlock” Marc Guéhi’s long-anticipated move to Liverpool. Palace have “held talks” with the reigning champions over a £35m move and Liverpool, have “received encouragement” that a deal can be done, but there is no agreement in place as yet while Palace work towards new defensive additions.
Sporting’s Ousmane Diomande remains their “first-choice target” but the price remains a sticking point, while interest in Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji is likely to fall flat as the Swiss international “has reservations about the switch”. Spurs and AC Milan are also interested.
There are two more names on Palace’s list – AS Roma’s Evan Ndicka and Toulouse teenager Jaydee Canvot, with talks for the latter said to be “at an advanced stage”.
The 3AM Verdict: Despite Oliver Glasner saying that Guéhi has to stay at Palace past the deadline in his Friday press conference, we suspect that the defender is very likely to be a Liverpool player by the end of Monday – and that Palace get their defenders, although we wouldn’t like to place our bets on who they’ll get. Akanji seems highly unlikely at this stage.
Brentford launch bid for €30m-rated Dutch international
Finally, a story from Sport Witness which offers the latest updates on Brentford’s pursuit of PSV Eindhoven and Netherlands midfielder Joey Veerman, and which claims that a “multi-million euro bid” has been made.
Brentford have taken “further steps” to firm up their interest in the 26-year-old, who has 16 caps for the Dutch national team, and have supposedly lodged a bid of somewhere between €25m and €35m – a fee that “should meet” PSV’s €30m (£26m) price tag, depending on the structure of the deal.
There’s no word on whether the bid has been accepted or rejected but it is stated that personal terms have not yet been agreed with Veerman, so there’s plenty of work to be done before the window closes at 7pm on Monday.
The 3AM Verdict: There are a couple of solid Dutch media sources behind this story, which suggests that there’s plenty of fire to go along with the smoke, and we do believe that Veerman is a likely signing – albeit one where that isn’t confirmed as yet.
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