BBC
Juventus and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 34, would welcome the appointment of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola as coach of the Serie A champions. (Marca)
Manchester United have set up an emergency pay-off fund for those players they wish to offload this summer. (Sun)
France midfielder Paul Pogba, 26, is a "big problem" at Manchester United, says former midfielder Roy Keane. (Sky Sports)
Eden Hazard, 28, is set to be offered £400,000 a week by Real Madrid in a bid to lure the Belgium forward away from Chelsea. (Sun)
Atletico Madrid's Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak, 26, is top of Manchester United's shortlist of replacements for David de Gea should the Spain international, 28, leave Old Trafford. (Metro)
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be patient in his attempt to sign a midfielder this summer until he knows for certain whether Spain international Ander Herrera, 29, will stay. (Teamtalk)
Tottenham face a dilemma over whether to sell playmaker Christian Eriksen this summer. The Denmark international, 27, has just over a year left on his £75,000-a-week contract and Real Madrid and Inter Milan are watching developments closely. (Mirror)
Port Vale owner Norman Smurthwaite is close to selling the club and is considering buying struggling League Two club Notts County. (Mirror)
West Ham and Leicester City are both interested in £26m-rated AC Milan and Turkey winger Hakan Calhanoglu, 25. (Star)
Managing director Billy Hogan has commended Liverpool's "incredible" recruitment team for helping to transform the club into Premier League and Champions League contenders. (Liverpool Echo)
Liverpool's Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, 27, is set to be named PFA Player of the Year ahead of Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, 24. (Evening Standard)
Stoke and Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher, 35, who will be out of contract at the end of the season, could return to Manchester United in a recruitment role. (Telegraph)
Arsenal have set a date for potential new signing Gabriel Martinelli, 17, to make his debut after agreeing a deal with Ituano to sign the Brazilian forward. (Yahoo Brasil via Metro)
Manchester City are considering making an offer for Benfica's 19-year-old Portuguese defensive midfielder Florentino Luis. (Guardian)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has identified his former Napoli charge Lorenzo Insigne as one of several missing pieces of his Chelsea jigsaw puzzle, but has the minor inconvenience of a transfer ban preventing him from snapping it into place. Should his employers fail in their efforts to get the ban overturned, or at least postponed, Liverpool could instead make a Premier League player of the Italian winger in exchange for £60m in used fifties.
That pesky transfer ban could also have an effect on the future of Kurt Zouma, who’d quite like to stay at Everton but may be recalled to Stamford Bridge unless Chelsea are allowed to sign a suitable replacement.
Meanwhile in Germany, Bild say Real Madrid are ready to bin off their attempt to lure Kylian Mbappé away from Paris Saint-Germain and focus their attention on signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund instead. While the Bundesliga side have been consistent with their insistence that Sancho is not for sale, the German tabloid say their resolve would be sternly tested by a mooted offer of around £155m. Real are also ready to make Eden Hazard an offer he’ll find difficult to refuse, specifically a weekly stipend of £400,000 and a one-off golden hello of his own weight in Haribo Starmix, should he ask for it.
In a revelation that will come as little surprise to anyone who has seen him jogging around the pitch doing little or nothing for the Manchester United cause, French sports daily L’Equipe reports that Paul Pogba has told his team-mates he wants to leave Old Trafford this summer. Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has been openly flirting with the French midfielder since taking over at the Bernabéu, while Pogba is also believed to have admirers at Barcelona and Juventus. He certainly doesn’t have too many left at Old Trafford, where club officials are expected to cash in on the midfielder as they set about rebooting the club ahead of next season.
Marcos Rojo has also been deemed surplus to Manchester United’s many personnel requirements and will be shipped out for a cut-price £15m (ONO), while the ongoing problem of how to solve a problem like Alexis Sánchez and his £500,000-(and the rest)-per-week wages remains on Teflon Ed Woodward’s “to do” list. The job of finding a new goalkeeper to replace the increasingly pouty and disinterested David De Gea is also beginning to look increasingly pressing and Jan Oblak is being mentioned in conjunction with a move to Old Trafford. The bad news for Ed? The ink is still wet on the new four-year deal the Slovenian signed with Atlético Madrid last week and it will cost £87m to trigger the release clause.
Milan winger Hakan Calhanoglu is a person of interest in inquiries currently being conducted by West Ham and Leicester City and will cost either club the thick end of £25m. A star for Croatia during the last World Cup, curiously coiffured Besiktas defender Domagoj Vida could be taking his blond ponytail and undercut to Molineux next season, although the Birmingham Mail reckon Wolves will have to fend off interest from Inter to land their man.
And out on loan in the Dutch League where he is impressing with Vitesse Arnhem, one-time Norwegian wonderkid Martin Ødegaard has caught the eye of Ajax scouts. They’re keen on bringing the 20-year-old to Amsterdam, but not so enthused by the prospect of having to fork out the £17m transfer fee being asked by the player’s parent club Real Madrid.
TIF
West Ham and Everton eye up Luka Jovic
West Ham and Everton are in the hunt to sign Frankfurt striker Luka Jovic, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper claimed via their live transfer blog on Thursday [05:48am] that the 21-year-old Serbia international might leave the Bundesliga club in the summer transfer window.
Frankurt have recently decided to make Jovic’s loan deal a permanent one after a pre-agreed deal with Benfica was reached last year
The Guardian has reported that the Europa League semi-finalists want up to £60.5million for the in-demand striker in the summer with Barcelona also in pursuit of him.
Good move for West Ham?
Jovic has been in sensational form at Frankurt this season.
He has scored 25 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions and has helped fire the Bundesliga club to the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they will play Chelsea next month.
West Ham need to add some real quality to their strike force in the summer transfer window and Jovic would be a ridiculously good addition by Manuel Pellegrini if he can strike an agreement.
Even though Frankfurt reportedly wan £60.5million for the Serbia international, he is well worth it and the Irons should splash the cash if they can afford to.
This is Futbol rating 10/10
Likely to happen?
West Ham are not the only team interested in Jovic.
Real Madrid and Liverpool have also been linked according to the Mirror and Barcelona are also said to be hot on his heels.
It would be the signing of the decade if West Ham were able to beat those clubs to Jovic’s signature, so as good as he would be for the Hammers, fans should probably not get their hopes up just yet.
This is Futbol rating 1/10
