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BBC
Manager Antonio Conte's future at Chelsea is in doubt because the Italian is furious at the club's summer transfer failings. (Daily Mirror)
Manchester United's attempts to sign Romelu Lukaku are not linked to any deal which would take United captain Wayne Rooney, 31, to Goodison Park. (Liverpool Echo)
However, Chelsea are expected to step up their interest in Lukaku, 24, despite United agreeing a £75m fee with Everton for the striker. (Guardian)
Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata, 24, has been left in limbo in the wake of United's deal for Lukaku, having been convinced he was set to leave Spain for Old Trafford.(Independent)
Belgium international Lukaku has agreed a long-term contract worth £250,000 a week with Jose Mourinho's side. (Daily Star)
Chelsea could face a striker crisis after Diego Costa, 28, started to say his goodbyes to his team-mates, having been told he is not part of Conte's plans for next season.(Daily Telegraph)
The Premier League champions have turned their attention to Swansea striker Fernando Llorente, 32, after missing out on a loan move for the Spaniard in January. (Evening Standard)
Barcelona are furious with legendary former club captain Carles Puyol after a player he represents - 16-year-old midfielder Eric Garcia - decided to walk away from the club to join Manchester City. (Independent)
Swansea City are braced for a revised £32m bid from Everton for midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, 27. (Daily Mail)
Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland, 24, says he would have to "consider" any approach from Manchester United. (Manchester Evening News)
Arsenal are interested in 19-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Aymen Barkok. (Spox - via Daily Express)
French side Marseille are leading contenders to sign Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, 30, in a £24.7m deal after the Gunners completed a club record deal for Alexandre Lacazette. (Daily Telegraph)
The Gunners are refusing to meet Leicester City's valuation for winger Riyad Mahrez but the 26-year-old is still expected to leave the Foxes this summer. (Daily Star)
Former Newcastle United winger Hatem Ben Arfa, 30, has been told he can leave Paris St-Germain. (L'Equipe - via Newcastle Chronicle)
Winger Demarai Gray, 21, wants assurances from Leicester about his first-team prospects amid growing interest in the England Under-21 international from Liverpool and Tottenham. (Daily Mirror)
Barcelona have had a £22m bid for former Spurs midfielder Paulinho, 28, rejected by his current club Guangzhou Evergrande. (Sky Sports)
Stoke have been in talks to sign Manchester City midfielder Fabien Delph, 27, on a loan deal. (Stoke Sentinel)
Real Madrid have held secret talks with PSG midfielder Marco Verratti, 24. (Don Balon - via Daily Star)
Watford are in talks with Chelsea over midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah and are confident the versatile 22-year-old wants to return to Vicarage Road. (London Evening Standard)
Southampton goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga is close to leaving the club with several sides interested in either a loan or permanent deal for the 25-year-old. (Daily Echo)
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has treated his staff and their families to a luxury holiday in Sardinia after winning the Premier League title. (Sun)
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has unveiled two sets of brand new crystal football boots to commemorate his time at Manchester United and Real Madrid. (Daily Mirror)
Five-hour round trips to training, an 85-year-old who runs the club shop, the kit man who gets paid by the players...welcome to the other Premier League (Wales Online)
Sir Alex Ferguson has told friends he would have signed former Chelsea defender John Terry on a free transfer if he was still Manchester United manager.(Sun)
The best of Thursday's transfer news
Everton will have to pay £40m for Swansea's 27-year-old midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson; Leicester are also showing interest. (Bleacher Report)
Sunderland are weighing up a move for West Ham's 29-year-old winger Robert Snodgrass - although the Hammers' £8m asking price could prove a major stumbling block. (Newcastle Chronicle)
Atletico Madrid are preparing to make a first formal bid of £22m to re-sign striker Diego Costa, 28, from Chelsea. (Guardian)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Scott Murray
So Romelu Lukaku will most likely be showcasing his silky first touch at Manchester United next season. This being the case, expect blistering hot steam to whistle a-plenty from the facial apertures of long-time admirer Antonio Conte, making him wonder whether it’s worth hanging around in his current job much longer. With Diego Costa already for the off and Chelsea light up front, a crisis looms at Stamford Bridge. The purchase of Real Madrid’s Álvaro Morata and Swansea’s Fernando Llorente may avert it. It may not.
Or maybe Chelsea will see United’s bid for Lukaku and raise it to £100m or so, in which case disregard the previous paragraph, and let’s all have a wee think about the direction modern football is taking.
£100m!
Whichever way that goes, Everton will need to replace their main source of goals, or all this big talk about their brilliant transfer window may begin to look a little premature. Olivier Giroud had already been mentioned in dispatches, but now it seems he’s off back home to Marseille. Creaking old Wayne Rooney may have to do, though any deal with Manchester United would be completely separate to any Lukaku business, so some hard talking still needs to be done.
Everton are also in for Gylfi Sigurdsson, even though Swansea want £32m at the very least. Hey, no bother, they’re good for a few quid.
Elsewhere on Merseyside, Liverpool are showing an interest in exciting young Leicester City winger Demarai Gray. If their historic pursuit of Dele Alli is any guide, expect them to prepare a bid well under the asking price, dither over the extra 17p that would seal the deal, then watch in impotent horror as Tottenham Hotspur make off with the quarry.
The aforementioned Olivier Giroud isn’t the only player likely to leave Arsenal this season. He’ll be followed out the door by Alexis Sánchez, who has long lost patience plying his trade at a club which flatters to deceive. That’ll explain his desire to chip off to Internazionale, then.
Sunderland want West Ham winger Robert Snodgrass, who should have stuck it out a bit longer at Hull in retrospect.
Stoke City are in for Manchester City midfielder Fabien Delph, who should have stuck it out a bit longer at Aston Villa in retrospect.
And making the opposite trip, sort of, nearly: Jack Butland, who is mulling over a bid from Manchester United. There’s no David de Gea rumour today, but give it time, something is bound to crop up soon enough.
Telegraph
Brighton and Sunderland chase West Ham's £8m Robert Snodgrass
Luke Edwards
Brighton and Sunderland are interested in signing West Ham’s Robert Snodgrass after learning the Hammers are willing to let the Scotland international leave the club this summer.
Brighton would appear to be the favourites given they can offer the 29-year-old Premier League football and also have the money to match West Ham’s £8m asking price.
Brighton have been cautious in their recruitment since securing promotion to the top flight under manager Chris Hughton, but feel Snodgrass is precisely the sort of player they need if they are going to survive in the Premier League.
The winger was superb for Hull at the start of last season, but he has failed to have the expected impact at West Ham since he arrived in the January transfer window.
Although they are no longer in the Premier League, Sunderland are also trying to attract him to the North East and are hoping the fact he played for manager Simon Grayson at Leeds United will help their cause.
Snodgrass may also be more open to the idea of playing in the second tier again as he wants to move closer to his family in Scotland. That is something that benefited Newcastle United when they signed Matt Ritchie from Bournemouth 12 months ago.
Sunderland know it is an ambitious attempt to sign a player who has proven his Premier League pedigree, but will at least try to see if they can persuade the player to drop down into the Championship.
Sunderland would be willing to pay a loan fee, with a clause which would automatically turn the move into a permanent one if they are promoted next year.
Middlesbrough also tried to sign Snodgrass when he left Hull at the start of the year and could also be interested in a deal, even though they are already close to signing midfielder Jonny Howson from Norwich City.
Sunderland have already had some early success in the transfer market in Grayson’s first week as manager, signing Everton defensive duo Ty Browning and Brendan Galloway on loan, with winger Aiden McGeady also due to arrive from Goodison Park in a £2m deal.
EPL Index
Is Liverpool and West Ham target Raul Jimenez good enough for the Premier League?
There are hundreds of foreign players that are linked with the Premier League every summer and there are few that haven’t been watched by an English scout at one time or another. Raul Jimenez has been at the centre of speculation in recent weeks, as Liverpool and West Ham United have both been linked with the Benfica striker. It is unknown whether either club has a serious interest, but he is open to a move to England and it is being reported in Portugal that he is expecting to receive a substantial offer from a Premier League club this summer.
Career history
The Mexican international started his career in his homeland as an exciting talent for Club America. He made his debut in 2011 and went on to be a regular goalscorer for the club. It became clear quickly that he would go on to play in Europe and in 2014, he transferred to Atletico Madrid. There are few better clubs than the La Liga side and it was a huge compliment to his potential that Diego Simeone moved for him. Although he didn’t feature as much as he would have liked, Simeone spoke highly of him as a player.
In the summer of 2015, he came close to signing for West Ham United, but he overslept and missed his flight to London. Then the possibility of a move to Benfica arose and he decided to move to Portugal. It has been a mixed time for him, as he has shown flashes of his ability, but he hasn’t always been able to hold down a starting place. Meanwhile, his goal record hasn’t been at the level that he would have hoped.
Strengths
Jimenez is a powerful striker and he is a good option to have leading the line. His intimidating frame and strength allows him to dominate in the air. If he was to move to the Premier League, he possesses the attributes to adapt quickly to the league’s style. Although he is good in the air, he is also mobile when he has the ball at his feet. The Mexican international is agile and capable of escaping from tight spaces, with his impressive ball control. In Liga NOS last season, he scored a goal every 110.6 minutes, which is a good strike rate for any striker. When he was on the pitch, he showed good composure in front of goal.
Weaknesses
He hasn’t been able to break into the Benfica team and become one of the important players at the club. Last season, he started only seven times in the league and that will be a disappointment. The striker will suggest that it was partly down to injuries, which is true, but there were other reasons for it too. His decision making can be questionable at times and the fact he hasn’t had a great season in Europe does create doubts about his ability.
Would he be a good signing for a Premier League club this summer?
His style of play and physicality suggest that he would be a good fit for the Premier League. Jimenez isn’t one to shirk a battle and given time, he possesses the attributes to deal with the physical style of the English top flight. However, it would be a risk for a club to bring him to these shores. He has never scored more than seven in a single season in European football. The Portuguese league is a good standard, but it isn’t as competitive as the Premier League. If he hasn’t been a leading player in Liga NOS, it is doubtful whether he could be here. Given the right coaching, he could be a good striker, but it would be a huge gamble. For a mid table team, it might be one worth taking. However, a team like Liverpool should be aiming higher.
C&H
Hernandez could price himself out of Hammers move
Javier Hernandez could price himself out of a move back to the Premier League because of his wage demands.
Although the transfer fee is affordable his agents are thought to be asking for a wage deal of £140,000 per week basic plus performance related bonuses for their client to join the Hammers.
A deal at that level would smash the current wage structure at West Ham where the highest paid player, Andy Carroll earns a basic of £85,000 per week plus bonuses.
Hernandez left Manchester United in 2015 on wages of £80,000 per week and is thought to have matched those wages when he joined Bayer Leverkusen on a three-year contract.
Previous reports claim LA Galaxy offered him $15m (£11.5m) a year to tempt him to California as their marquee signing. That offer if true would work out at an incredible £221,000 per week for the striker and is thought to be behind the high wage demands to other clubs.
While we must accept that a quality striker would earn £100,000 per week in today’s market, the price of £140,000 per week may be a step too far for the Hammers and upset other top players at West Ham who could demand comparable wages.
However, we are told the Hammers haven’t given up hope and are working to see if a compromise on wage demands can be reached. One option is a Dimi Payet type deal which had the potential to reach £125,000 per week but in reality never did! His basic stayed at £68,000 per week with an appearance fee of £25,000 per game, performance related bonuses relating to goals, assists, wins, league position, cup progression and qualifying for Europe or Champions League added significant incentives to bump up his wages.
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