Newcastle target former top-flight flop as Man Utd & Man City battle over £35m wonderkidplaceholder image
Newcastle target former top-flight flop as Man Utd & Man City battle over £35m wonderkid | Getty Images
The latest Premier League transfer rumours reviewed - with news from Newcastle, Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton and more.
Another day, another boatload of gossip, and that means another of 3 Added Minutes’ round-ups of the biggest and juiciest Premier League transfer rumours – starting, today, with a story for Newcastle United fans.
According to Spanish rumourmongers Fichajes, the Magpies have “renewed their pursuit” of former Tottenham Hotspur winger Giovani Lo Celso with the Argentine enduring a difficult run of form at Real Betis – and his current employers could be open to a sale.
The 29-year-old attacking midfielder had a strong start to life in Seville but has struggled a little of late and has lost his regular starting spot, meaning that while Betis are “in no hurry to sell,” he is no longer “considered untouchable” at the cash-strapped club and Newcastle could take advantage of that to sign a player said to be a “long-standing target.”
Betis seem to be looking for a transfer fee in the region of €20-25m (£17.5-22m) and would be “willing to listen” to offers in that ballpark. Newcastle, for their part, are said to be keen to get reinforcements in over the course of the January transfer window and have Lo Celso on their shortlist as they consider their options.
The 3AM Verdict: We’ll start by saying that Fichajes is not, in our opinion, an entirely reliable source for transfer rumours and we’d want to see corroboration from other outlets before we bought in to any of their stories – but Newcastle certainly do want reinforcements in midfielder and potentially on the wing, which could make Lo Celso a reasonable option if the final price was sensible. This isn’t completely implausible.
Manchester United battling City to sign young star
Over to a story from TeamTalk now, who claim that Manchester United are “making significant moves” in their attempts to move ahead of local rivals Manchester City in the race for 19-year-old midfield wonderkid Christ Inao Oulaï.
City are said to be “frontrunners” to sign the Trabzonspor starlet, and see Oulaï as a “priority target” – but United are said to be in talks with the Ivory Coast international’s representatives as they aim to manoeuvre their way into the lead in the race.
Oulaï, who only moved to Turkey this year, will be at the Africa Cup of Nations with his country over the coming weeks which should give both teams time to refine their pitches, although money could prove to be a stumbling block – Trabzonspor are supposedly “holding firm” on a hefty asking price of €40m (£35m). Bayern Munich are also said to be keen on the youngster.
The 3AM Verdict: Oulaï certainly looks set to move to an elite team in the very near future, and the article suggests that United see him as a long-term successor to Casemiro. Between that price tag and AFCON, however, we’d hazard a guess that this is a transfer battle more likely to be resolved in the summer than in January.
Everton & Crystal Palace ‘in contact’ over Morocco star
Let’s finish up with a story from Sport Witness now which alleges that while both Everton and Crystal Palace are “yet to make official offers” for Morocco international Zakaria El Ouahdi, they are both “in contact” with his club side KRC Genk over the terms of a potential move.
Basing their report on a story from Africa Foot, Sport Witness state that the 23-year-old right-back is attracting “significant interest” and that both Everton and Palace are “keen” – with the latter apparently “leading the race” for a player whose availability won’t be affected by the Africa Cup of Nations after he missed out on their final squad for the tournament.
Genk are said to be “open to a deal” if the right offer does arrive, with a fee in the region of €10-12m (£8.75-10.5m) mooted. There is also interest from France, Germany and Russia, although El Ouahdi has supposedly ruled out the latter for what we assume would be obvious reasons.
The 3AM Verdict: An attacking wing-back who has been hugely impressive in Belgium of late and has scored 10 league goals since the start of last season, there’s an obvious comparison between his career trajectory and that ofDaniel Muñoz – so we certainly have no trouble believing that Palace are keen, while Everton need a right-back too. An eminently plausible story and one to keep an eye on.
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