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BBC
Bayern Munich want to submit a new offer of 110m euros (£94.6m) including add-ons for Tottenham and England striker Harry Kane. (Sky Sports)
However, Bayern and Spurs still remain apart in their valuation of Kane following fresh talks, with the 30-year-old leaning towards staying at the Premier League club. (Athletic - subscription required)
If Kane does leave Tottenham, the club will pursue a move for Gent's Nigerian forward Gift Orban, 21, in addition to another centre-back and midfielder. (Times - subscription required)
North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham are ready to battle it out for Aston Villa's 25-year-old Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz. (Football Insider)
Arsenal have reached an agreement with Brentford to sign 27-year-old Spain goalkeeper David Raya for close to £30m. (Fabrizio Romano)
Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal want to sign Paris St-Germain and Brazil forward Neymar and plan to meet with the 31-year-old's father. (Footmercato - in French)
Neymar would willing to leave PSG for a club in Saudi Arabia provided they let him spend a season on loan at Barcelona. (Sport - in Spanish)
Everton are considering a move for England defender Harry Maguire, 30, with Manchester United interested in Belgium midfielder Amadou Onana, 21, in an exchange. (Mirror)
Crystal Palace are closing in on Chelsea and England left-back Lewis Hall, 18, on a season-long loan. (Mail)
Manchester United are interested in 23-year-old French centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo from Nice as a replacement for Maguire. (RMC Sport - in French)
Manchester United also intend to open formal contract talks with English defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 25, after the current transfer window closes. (Mail)
England right-back Kyle Walker, 33, has decided to stay at Manchester City, despite reaching a previous agreement to join Bayern Munich. (Athletic - subscription required)
Real Sociedad want to take 26-year-old Arsenal and Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney on loan. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Barcelona have added a 1bn euro (£861m) release clause to the contract of 16-year-old German midfielder Noah Darvich. (Football Transfers)
Chelsea's Italy Under-21 midfielder Cesare Casadei, 20, is wanted on loan by Leicester City and Genoa. (Sky Sport Italia - via Football Italia)
Netherlands forward Wout Weghorst, 31, will join Wolfsburg on a season-long loan from Burnley. (Bild - in German and subscription required)
Leeds have agreed a deal to take Tottenham and Wales centre-back Joe Rodon, 25, on a season's loan. (Telegraph)
Sky Paper Talk
THE TIMES
Tottenham Hotspur are increasingly resigned to selling Harry Kane after Bayern Munich indicated they would increase their offer for the England captain to £94.5m.
DAILY MAIL
Steven Gerrard has denied any interest in signing Liverpool star Mohamed Salah for Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq.
Chelsea have agreed a new £40m+-a-season shirt sponsorship deal with American technology giants Infinite Athlete.
Manchester United's new £72m signing Rasmus Hojlund is nursing a back injury which is likely to limit his playing time at the start of the season.
Manchester United intend to open formal talks with Aaron Wan-Bissaka over a new contract to cap a remarkable turnaround under Erik ten Hag for the defender.
DAILY STAR
Arsenal's pursuit of Barcelona's young talent Ansu Fati has hit a roadblock as the LaLiga club have reportedly rejected a 'very tempting offer' from the Gunners.
Napoli have emerged as the latest contender in the race to sign Celta Vigo's rising star Gabri Veiga this summer.
Chelsea icon Marcel Desailly says he nearly joined Liverpool before his wife convinced him not to.
THE INDEPENDENT
Manchester City are increasingly positive that Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva will stay at the Etihad Stadium, despite interest from the European superpowers.
THE SUN
Mason Greenwood was watched over by his dad and baby son as he trained ahead of Manchester United's imminent decision on his future.
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Manchester United have turned a premium hospitality suite at Old Trafford into a new pre-match base for Erik ten Hag's first-team squad after the manager won a battle his predecessors Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal both lost.
Kyle Walker is likely to stay at Manchester City after considering his future this summer amid interest from Bayern Munich.
Watford are working on an ambitious move to snatch Nigeria Under-20 international Daniel Daga from under the noses of Europe's biggest clubs.
Arsenal and Brentford have reached an agreement for the transfer of David Raya, with the north London club set to pay around £30m for the goalkeeper.
DAILY MIRROR
Juventus and Chelsea are locked in negotiations over a swap deal between Dusan Vlahovic and Romelu Lukaku - but the Italian giants are demanding an extra £34.5m.
Former Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna reckons that Kai Havertz can prove to be the next Robin van Persie.
SCOTTISH SUN
Elfsborg director Stefan Andreasson has admitted that Celtic are interested in Gustaf Lagerbielke.
Guardian Rumour Mill
David Tindall
The Mill was digging through some old comedy clips last night and stumbled across the classic Monty Python ‘fish slap’ sketch. You know the one, a safari-clad Michael Palin repeatedly running up to a similarly dressed John Cleese and giving him little taps with a small fish before Cleese pulls out a gigantic trout and clobbers Palin into a river.
This same dance appears to be happening in the Harry Kane transfer saga. Bayern Munich have spent the entire summer giving the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, a series of little taps in a bid to prize the England striker away from north London. But Levy, like Cleese, is standing firm and ready to bat Bayern aside.
The Bundesliga champions are now believed to have put in a fourth bid of around £94.5m, having previously said that their third of £86m was a final offer and an outcome would be decided one way or another last Friday. Ominously, we couldn’t help but notice that when Palin goes in for a fourth time, this is when Cleese has had enough and smashes his provocateur over the head to put an end to it.
At least Gary Neville doesn’t believe the idea of Kane moving is a dead parrot that has ceased to be. Oh no, speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap, the former Manchester United defender reckons the brains at Old Trafford are hatching a plan. “I am hoping they are watching what is happening and being clever and waiting, seeing an £86m deal might get agreed with Bayern and Kane goes: ‘I’m not going, I want to go to United’,” said Neville. “Tottenham have rejected that bid because they know he isn’t going to Bayern. Harry Kane wants them to believe he will accept that money and then will go: ‘No I want to go to United’. Levy would be dead. He knows he won’t go to Munich otherwise he would accept it.” Righto.
Perhaps Neville has some theories on Liverpool’s attempt to make Roméo Lavia their latest purchase from Southampton. The Reds could have saved themselves the best part of £1bn had they scouted as well as Saints down the years so are reluctant to toss another £50m Southampton’s way. A new offer of around £46m was turned down earlier this week, following earlier bids of £37m and £41m.
In a twist/non-twist, Lavia was left out of Southampton’s travelling squad for Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup defeat at League Two Gillingham. Earlier in the day, the Belgian teenager had posted a social media update saying he had “good vibes”. They can’t have been for his current employers as Saints were subject to the night’s shock result.
With Kyle Walker set to snub Bayern Munich and stay at Manchester City, the Mill is getting frustrated at all this inertia. Come on, someone just bloody move! Thankfully, there could be pens being readied at City after all, with Pep Guardiola keen on signing West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá. The Brazilian midfielder was purchased by the Hammers last summer for a club-record fee of £51m but City may have to stump up £70m.
That would leave quite a hole at West Ham following the loss of Declan Rice but they’re looking to fill it with the capture of the Mexico midfielder Edson Álvarez from Ajax for £32m and, hopefully, James Ward-Prowse from Southampton although that one has gone into ‘fish dance’ territory with the Hammers tapping away at £30m and Saints wanting £40m.
Harry Maguire is still on West Ham’s radar and rumours swirl that David Moyes would make the out-of-favour centre-back his new club captain. Moyes’s former club, Everton, could have something to say about that and other gossip suggests the Toffees would send Amadou Onana to Old Trafford in a bid to bring Maguire to Goodison.
Elsewhere, Arsenal look set to sign the Brentford goalkeeper David Raya after a £30m fee was agreed, while Chelsea and Juventus are trying to thrash out a swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku and Dusan Vlahovic. Also at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have released a new list of squad numbers. That’s caused excitement as two of the vacant ones could possibly be the kind that £80m Brighton target, Moisés Caicedo, might wear. If this is where we’re at, perhaps we should just all just hurl ourselves into a river.
The Athletic
Manchester City exploring deal to sign Lucas Paqueta from West Ham
By David Ornstein
Manchester City are exploring a deal to sign West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
City are yet to make a formal offer for the 25-year-old but the reigning Premier League champions hold a firm interest in the Brazil international as Pep Guardiola’s side are looking to strengthen their midfield.
West Ham do not want to sell Paqueta and are in the market to strengthen their midfield as they have agreed a fee of £30m with Southampton to sign midfielder James Ward-Prowse.
Paqueta joined West Ham last summer after two successful seasons at Lyon where he scored 21 goals and provided 13 assists in 80 games for the French club.
Despite a slow start to his debut season in London, Paqueta soon established himself as a reliable performer for David Moyes’ side, scoring five goals and providing seven assists in 41 games, and helping West Ham lift the Europa Conference League, playing a key role in the final in Prague.
In the 89th minute of the game, the Brazilian played a defence-splitting pass through to Jarrod Bowen who scored the winner and won West Ham’s first European trophy since 1965.
The London club begin their Premier League season against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
Ward-Prowse is set to sign a four-year deal with the London club.
The Guardian
Paquetá will push West Ham to sell as Manchester City prepare £70m bid
Jacob Steinberg
Lucas Paquetá will push for West Ham to let him join Manchester City, who are preparing a bid to sign the Brazil midfielder. Pep Guardiola is looking to strengthen in midfield and Paquetá is interested in joining the treble winners.
West Ham, who have reached an agreement in principle to sign the Manchester United defender Harry Maguire for £30m and revived their move for the Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse, have lost Declan Rice and are reluctant to sell another key player. West Ham have knocked back an initial approach from City for Paquetá, saying it fell below their expectations, but the European champions are expected to return with an opening offer of £70m.
It is likely to take more for West Ham to consider selling Paqueta. It can be revealed that the Brazil international’s contract contains an £85m release clause that does not become active until next summer.
However it is understood that Paqueta has grown unsettled and is considering his future. The attacking midfielder, who became West Ham’s record signing when he joined from Lyon for £51m last summer, is understood to be unimpressed with the club’s struggle to fill the hole left by Rice’s £105m move to Arsenal.
Paquetá, who became a favourite at the London Stadium after a slow start, does not want to be involved in another relegation battle and has concerns over West Ham’s ambition. West Ham fear it will be difficult to convince the 25-year-old to ignore the lure of playing for Guardiola. There is concern over how the player will react if denied a move.
Paquetá scored five goals last season and became more influential in the final third. He is a creative talent who delivered the assist for Jarrod Bowen to score the winner against Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.
There have been times, however, when Paquetá has not looked suited to the style under David Moyes. West Ham are at their most dangerous when absorbing pressure and looking to hit on the counterattack. Paquetá would arguably be more effective in a side that dominate possession.
That would be the case at City, who have space in midfield after losing Ilkay Gündogan to Barcelona on a free transfer. City have signed Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and were interested in Rice before he joined Arsenal for £105m. The European champions have also lost the Algeria winger Riyad Mahrez to the Saudi Pro League and could replace him by moving for Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise, who is also a target for Chelsea.
West Ham have endured frustration since selling Rice but are poised to announce the Mexico midfielder Edson Álvarez as their first summer signing.
West Ham are also interested in signing the Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen on loan with an option to buy. Sources have given West Ham a chance of agreeing a permanent deal for Maatsen.
Football Insider
West Ham coach Mark Robson has agreed to join the staff of incoming Wolves manager Gary O’Neil, sources have told Football Insider.
The London club’s Under-23s lead coach is heading to Molineux and will be joined by Bournemouth’s former assistant manager Tim Jenkins.
O’Neil wants Robson, 54, and Jenkins, 43, in the dugout with him as he prepares for his second Premier League manager’s job.
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