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BBC
Manchester United have had an opening £89m bid for England winger Jadon Sancho, 20, turned down by Borussia Dortmund. (Bild, via Mail)
United have yet to submit a bid for Sancho and, despite Dortmund's £110m asking price being above the Premier League club's valuation, there is a belief a compromise can be reached. (Telegraph - subscription required)
Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish is a target for Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but the 24-year-old England midfielder has been made aware he may not be able to start every week if he does make the switch to Old Trafford. (Independent)
Chelsea will consider offers of more than £50m for Spain goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, 25, and will consider a long-term loan move. Burnley and England’s Nick Pope, 28, and Ajax and Cameroon keeper Andre Onana, 24, are potential replacements. (Mail)
Leicester City midfielder James Maddison, 23, has signed a new £110,000-a-week deal that keeps him with the Foxes until 2024. (Goal)
Chelsea, having secured a place in the Champions League next season, have opened talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a fee for 21-year-old Germany winger Kai Havertz. (Guardian)
Crystal Palace are set to listen to offers for forward Wilfried Zaha, 27 this summer with Everton expected to bid for the Ivory Coast international. (Mirror)
Leicester's failure to secure Champions League football may lead to England left-back Ben Chilwell, 23, leaving with Chelsea and Manchester United interested. (Sun)
Brazil winger Willian, 31, could agree a new deal at Chelsea by the end of the week following a breakthrough in negotiations between the two parties. (Sky Sports)
La Liga side Real Betis want Manchester City and Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi, 32, with City hoping to replace him with Bournemouth and Netherlands defender Nathan Ake, 25. (Mail)
Barcelona playmaker Philippe Coutinho has asked Arsenal for more time to make a decision about his future, with Leicester City and Tottenham also interested in the 28-year-old Brazil attacking midfielder. (Sport - in Spanish)
Tottenham are edging closer to a deal to sign Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, 24, from Southampton. Spurs have offered £15m, although the Saints value the player at £25m. (Sky Sports)
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe will hold talks with the club's hierarchy in the next 48 hours, with a decision over his future expected by the end of the week. (Mail)
German giants Bayern Munich are willing to pay £18.3m to sign Norwich City and England Under-21 right-back Max Aarons, 20. (Sky Sports)
Manchester City are set to sign Wales Under-21 defender Cameron Coxe on a free transfer after the 21-year-old was released by Cardiff City. (Wales Online)
Guardian
West Ham's Albian Ajeti set to join Celtic on loan as Moyes begins clear out
Swiss striker failed to score league goal since joining from Basel
Moyes hoping to move on several more players
Jacob Steinberg
Albian Ajeti is set to move to Celtic on loan after struggling to impress since joining West Ham for £8m last summer.
David Moyes is ready to cut his losses on the Swiss striker, who hopes to revive his career in Scotland after enduring a year to forget since leaving Basel. Ajeti ended his first season at West Ham without a goal to his name and having failed to start a single Premier League game.
Ajeti was supposed to provide cover for Sébastien Haller after joining West Ham, who needed to reshape their attack after losing Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll and Javier Hernández last summer, but he has rarely looked up to the required standard. Manuel Pellegrini barely used the 23-year-old, restricting him to two starts in the League Cup and a handful of cameo appearances in the league, and the 23-year-old’s situation has not improved since the Chilean was replaced as manager by Moyes in December.
Any hopes Ajeti had of a fresh opportunity under Moyes disappeared after he failed to impress after being handed a rare start when West Ham lost to West Brom in the FA Cup in January. He would not feature again until making his ninth and final substitute appearance in the league during West Ham’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley this month.
Moyes, who has helped West Ham narrowly avoid relegation, does not have any place for Ajeti in his long-term plans. The Scot is keen to move players on this summer – there are doubts over the futures of Felipe Anderson, Fabian Balbuena, Manuel Lanzini, Arthur Masuaku and Andriy Yarmolenko – and Ajeti is likely to be the first out the door.
Ajeti has looked ill suited to the physicality of English football, though he has represented Switzerland at international level and played in the Champions League for Basel. Celtic will aim to rebuild the forward’s talent and it is understood that they could sign him for £5m next year if he impresses on loan.
TBR
Southampton interested in signing West Ham defender
Sky Sports have claimed that Southampton are interested in signing West Ham United right-back Ryan Fredericks this summer, with the Saints alerted to the ‘potential availability’ of the Hammers star.
Fredericks, 27, joined West Ham in the summer of 2018 on a free transfer from Fulham despite the west Londoners gaining promotion in the same summer. He has since endured an indifferent spell at the London Stadium.
A number of injuries, playing second fiddle to Pablo Zabaleta at times and now finally enjoying a run of consistent game time – Fredericks has only managed 45 appearances in two seasons. He has two years left on his contract.
Southampton are after a right-back, with Cedric Soares moving to Arsenal and Kyle Walker-Peters only on loan. It is believed Walker-Peters is likely to remain at Southampton – with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg going to Tottenham.
But that has not stopped Southampton from looking at other possible right-back signings and they are now interested in former Spurs man Fredericks. TransferMarkt claim he has the same agent as Che Adams.
TBR’s view – West Ham cannot afford to lose Fredericks
Not right now, anyway. The Hammers are expected to make signings in the right-back position after losing both Pablo Zabaleta and Jeremy Ngakia at the end of their contracts – the latter expected to join West Brom.
River Plate’s Gonzalo Montiel has been strongly linked but until David Moyes gets new right-sided defenders to the club, then there should be no way Southampton sign Fredericks
Mail
MARTIN SAMUEL: Liverpool’s rivals must pay the price for Declan Rice, whatever it is... the West Ham star offers the instinct of a defender and the imagination of a midfielder. He could be the player John Stones never was at Manchester City
Declan Rice is exactly what Liverpool's rivals need to challenge them next year
He offers the instincts of a defender, but the imagination of a midfielder
Rice could be the player that John Stones never was if he signed for Man City
Virgil van Dijk has changed Liverpool's history, no player has been more crucial
By MARTIN SAMUEL
David Moyes was asked about the future of Declan Rice. ‘He’s not going anywhere, unless you get one of those steel vans that have the cash in it,’ he said.
That’s not the same as no sale. And Moyes could have said no sale. Instead, he indicated buyers would need a lot of money, which is no real deterrent at all because the type of clubs that should be interested in Rice have fortunes.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United. If there is a price for Rice, those that finished far away in Liverpool’s slipstream should pay it. He is what they need. A protector of defences, a centre half of immense promise.
Moyes said Rice was the best midfielder at the club and the best central defender, too. And defenders should be the premium purchase this summer. Defenders are what the chasing pack need — all of them.
Brendan Rodgers is a positive person but there will be quiet moments when he reflects on the season just gone and curses. It may not come around again, a chance like that for Leicester — a year when all of the elite clubs, bar Liverpool, are vulnerable at the back.
Chelsea, who reached the Champions League, let in as many goals as Brighton, who came 15th. Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United were widely considered as good as any back line in the country apart from the champions.
And Leicester had 14 points on Manchester United and Chelsea when 2020 began. They missed out on a top four spot because, had the whole season started then, they would now be 12th.
So while Liverpool made this a special campaign, in a league in which successful clubs are built from defence, it was a failure for most — one requiring resolution in the transfer market and swiftly. Given that Manchester United paid £80million for Harry Maguire and £30m for Victor Lindelof and are still far from convincing, this is hardly a buyer’s market.
Manchester City are tracking Nathan Ake, who has just been relegated with Bournemouth. There is bound to be interest in Tyrone Mings of Aston Villa, too. Yet Rice, who has been consistently linked with Chelsea, could be better than them all.
He is one of only seven outfield players to have featured in every minute of this league campaign and only the fourth aged 21 or younger to do so in the Premier League era.
While he has played the vast majority of his football in midfield, many still see his best position as centre half, long-term. It is believed to be where Frank Lampard would use him if he returned to Chelsea, his club until age 14.
As for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola is on record saying his ideal team would have 11 midfield players. He’s backed that up at various times by playing defences featuring Fernandinho, or Javier Mascherano at Barcelona.
Rice affords the best of both worlds — a talent with the instincts of a defender, but the imagination of a midfielder.
He could become the player that John Stones never quite was. It’s moot, of course, because he’s not for sale. Unless you’ve got a steel van full of cash.
Something suggests Sheik Mansour or Roman Abramovich might.
West London Sport
QPR hoping to agree deal for Hugill
QPR want Jordan Hugill back next season.
Striker Hugill scored 15 goals during his year on loan at Loftus Road from West Ham.
And Rangers would like him to be included in any deal with the Hammers for Ebere Eze.
The east London club are interested in Eze as well as Brentford winger Said Benrahma.
QPR, who believe Eze is worth at least £20m, are looking to sign at least a couple of forwards this summer.
They would like to sign Hugill either on loan or a permanent deal and believe their best chance might be if West Ham make a move for Eze, who is also wanted by Crystal Palace.
Hugill, 28, was signed by David Moyes in a surprise big-money move from Preston in January 2018 – weeks after QPR believed they were in with a chance of signing the player for around £1.2m.
Moyes returned for a second spell as West Ham manager last year, leading to some speculation that Hugill could be given a second chance.
But Hugill is not in Moyes’ plans and seemingly has no future at the London Stadium, having not started a Premier League game since his move to the capital.
He is therefore likely to be playing in the Championship again next season.
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