Bayern Munich have submitted a 52m euros (£44.7m) bid for 28-year-old Liverpool and Colombia winger Luis Diaz. (Bild), external
Nottingham Forest have had another bid rejected for Brentford striker Yoane Wissa, 28, believed to be even lower than the £25m they previously offered for the Congolese international in January despite the Bees' valuation of £50m. (The Athletic - subscription required), external
Liverpool are ready to open talks over a move for Eintracht Frankfurt's French striker Hugo Ekitike, 23, even though the club need to sanction the transfer of Uruguay forward Darwin Nunez, 26, in order to facilitate a deal. (Givemesport) , external
The Reds have been impressed by Ekitike but the price tag and 25-year-old Sweden striker Alexander Isak's situation at Newcastle could also be factors in any deal. (Tbrfootball) , external
Arsenal's pursuit of 27-year-old Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres is at risk of collapse because the club has had no communication with Sporting for three days. (Abola - in Portuguese)
Real Madrid are open to letting Brazil winger Rodrygo leave this summer, but the club will leave the final decision to the 24-year-old, who wants to stay in Europe. (Fabrizio Romano), external
Following Real's defeat in the Club World Cup, coach Xabi Alonso wants to sell Rodrygo, along with Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos, 28, and Morocco midfielder Brahim Diaz, 25. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
The Spanish giants are planning to make a deal for Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero, 27, who is also attracting interest from rivals Atletico Madrid. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
Arsenal are believed to be confident that England Under-21 attacking midfielder Ethan Nwaneri will sign a new contract despite interest in the 18-year-old from Chelsea and clubs in Germany. (Guardian), external
Napoli have stalled negotiations with Galatasaray for Victor Osimhen, 26, over his transfer fee. The Nigeria striker spent last season on loan with the Turkish club. (Gianlucadimarzio), external
Sunderland are in talks with English winger Romaine Mundle about signing a new contract, as the 22-year-old has attracted interested from PSV Eindhoven. (Sky Sports) , external
Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho is targeting Belgium forward Leandro Trossard, with Arsenal open to selling the 30-year-old. (Fotospor - in Turkish) , external
Real Betis remain confident in signing Brazil winger Antony permanently from Manchester United, though the 25-year-old is likely to take a significant cut in wages to move to the Spanish club. (Sport - in Spanish), external
English striker Jamie Vardy, 38, is a target for former West Brom boss Carlos Corberan, who is now head coach at Valencia in La Liga. (Givemesport)
Sky Paper Talk
TELEGRAPH
Nottingham Forest are expected to make a formal offer for Manchester City attacking midfielder James McAtee with Morgan Gibbs-White bound for Tottenham.
DAILY MIRROR
Sporting Lisbon have imposed a "cooling off" period over talks with Arsenal on Viktor Gyokeres after reaching a stalemate with the Gunners.
A second witness has come forward to refute Spanish police claims Liverpool star Diogo Jota appeared to be speeding when he crashed his Lamborghini supercar
THE SUN
AFC Wimbledon's Osman Foyo has been charged with breaching betting rules.
DAILY MAIL
Rio Ferdinand's son Lorenz has joined the ever-growing list of nepo-babies to sign for Premier League clubs after graduating from Brighton's youth academy.
Xabi Alonso is reportedly poised to hold showdown talks with Vinicius Jnr and Kylian Mbappe following Real Madrid's 4-0 thrashing by PSG at the FIFA Club World Cup.
GUARDIAN
Chelsea have been handed a major boost by Moisés Caicedo returning to training before the Club World Cup final, raising hopes that the midfielder will recover from an ankle injury in time to face Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.
Newcastle have held advanced talks with the aim of signing the England midfielder Jordan Nobbs. The 32-year-old is wanted by the Women's Super League Two club on a free transfer.
Guardian Rumour mill
David Tindall
Bayern Munich clearly had the hump when main target Florian Wirtz was lured to Liverpool rather than Bavaria. So after missing out on the former Bayer Leverkusen playmaker, are they trying to exact a spot of revenge by snatching Luis Díaz from the Reds? Latest reports from Germany suggest Bayern have upped their efforts with a £52m offer for the 28-year-old, and that new talks have taken place between Díaz’s representatives and Bayern Munich director of sport Max Eberl.
Liverpool aren’t having any of it, only hinting that they would consider letting the Colombian go if a significant offer arrived; £52m doesn’t fall into that category. The player himself has suggested he is open to an “exciting offer” but that may just be to improve his current contract at Anfield. And that’s rather a sticking point: scroll down the list of Liverpool players’ wages and he’s surprisingly low but there appears to be no sign of an increase on the table.
While Darwin Núñez (on more than double Díaz’s wages) continues to be linked with a move to Italian champions Napoli, the big fish for Liverpool’s transfer rod is still Alexander Isak. And maybe Arne Slot’s champions have received some encouragement for a raid on the striker with news from transfer guru Fabrizio Romano that Newcastle have joined the race to sign Eintracht Frankfurt frontman Hugo Ekitike.
The 23-year-old, rated at around £85m, has attracted interest from the Saudi Pro League and various Premier League clubs, including Liverpool (this thing goes in never ending circles, doesn’t it) and Chelsea. But the belief is that he wants to stay in Europe and Newcastle would certainly have the wonga if they sold Isak to Liverpool – even if it would go down like a piece of Ikea furniture with a vital screw missing if they sold the Swede to a Premier League rival.
It’s all happening at Nottingham Forest and not in a good way in many respects. With winger Anthony Elanga lined up to join Newcastle and chief string puller, Morgan Gibbs-White, set for a medical at Tottenham, Forest are in danger of seeing their squad pulled apart after an excellent 2024-25 campaign which saw them flirt heavily with a Champions League place before finally finishing seventh.
But news of incomings will boost spirits and one well-known Premier League frontman being heavily linked again is Brentford’s Yoane Wissa. Forest are believed to have had a £25m bid rejected out of hand last winter. Brentford want double that and perhaps the budget is there now for Nuno Espírito Santo to bring in the Congolese international.
The Wissa deal – Spurs have also shown interest – is complicated by the saga of Bryan Mbeumo’s proposed switch to Manchester United. It’s a deal being played out in public and so slow moving that former United star Rio Ferdinand has claimed on his Youtube channel that if it doesn’t come off “it would be a custard, egg on your face situation”. And it doesn’t get any worse than that. Brentford don’t want to lose both players so this may take a fair while to be resolved yet.
Back to Forest and they’re reportedly trying to fill their Morgan Gibbs-White shaped hole with Manchester City midfielder James McAtee. The 22-year-old has just captained England U21s to Euros glory which might have put a few quid on his transfer fee. That, by the way, is a bone of contention. Forest are believed to be offering £25m but City want something north of £40m. West Ham are also sniffing having just sold Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham.
And, finally, talking of Spurs, Thomas Frank seems to be piecing together a new squad rather nicely and there could be a fresh arrival in defence too. Attracting attention is Belgian centre-back Koni De Winter. The Genoa defender enjoyed an excellent season in Serie A and could be prized away for £25-30m. Inevitably, Inter and other Italian clubs are also monitoring the situation.
The Athletic
Mohammed Kudus is gone but Crysencio Summerville’s West Ham career might be about to start in earnest
By Roshane Thomas
Crysencio Summerville memorably ran to the West Ham bench to celebrate with team-mate Mohammed Kudus shortly after scoring his first goal for the club against Manchester United last October. The hug was a reminder of the friendship they had built over the season’s first few months.
But in the confines of Summerville’s own home, there was actually a reason of sorts to celebrate this week upon hearing that Kudus had left the club.
The Ghana international has joined join London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of around £55million ($74.7m) after two seasons at the London Stadium. The 24-year-old has become the first player to move from West Ham to Spurs since August 2011, when England midfielder Scott Parker did it.
Kudus and Summerville may have a close bond as two people, but when it comes to game time for West Ham, they were competing for the same position in the team. Under Julen Lopetegui in the first half of last season, Kudus was often the preferred option, which limited Summerville to cameo appearances off the bench following a £25million switch from Championship side Leeds United in the August.
But Kudus’ departure presents an opening for 23-year-old Summerville to fill a creative void in a side now managed by Graham Potter.
The Dutch winger showed glimpses of his talent in an encouraging first full debut in the Carabao Cup against Bournemouth in August, that home defeat of Manchester United in which he scored, and January’s FA Cup loss to Aston Villa, where he provided an assist for Lucas Paqueta. But later in that game at Villa Park, Potter’s first after succeeding Lopetegui, he suffered a hamstring injury that curtailed his progress.
Initially supposed to be sidelined for only a few weeks, Summerville did not feature again all season, missing the final 18 fixtures.
Summerville, in blue, hugs Kudus after his goal in West Ham’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in October (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
He endured setbacks in his recovery and was cautious about resorting to an operation in the hope that conservative rehab could heal the damaged muscle naturally. Despite this initial approach, Summerville eventually underwent successful surgery in April. He has not experienced any complications since the procedure and hopes to feature in the latter stages of West Ham’s upcoming pre-season schedule, where they play against Grasshopper Club of Switzerland, Manchester United, Everton, Bournemouth and French side Lille.
Kudus’ transfer will enable West Ham to reinvest in strengthening the squad, but Summerville’s return to the starting XI will, hopefully, feel like a new arrival. Though they broadly play the same position, he and Kudus differ in style: the Ghanaian is more of a dynamic dribbler who operates from wide areas, while Summerville is more of a traditional winger, brought to the club to offer creativity on the flank.
Adorning Summerville’s right arm is a tattoo of his younger self with a thought bubble which reads: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. These are the kind of inspired words that will fuel the motivation for what he hopes will be his redemption season.
It has been a summer of focus, new targets and a burning desire to atone for the frustrations from 2024-25.
Dubai was Summerville’s preferred post-season holiday destination, and the trip was geared towards his impending comeback. He continued his rehabilitation at a recovery clinic that West Ham team-mates Niclas Fullkrug and Michail Antonio also used last season to help with their respective hamstring and leg injuries. The squad reported to the club’s Rush Green base to begin pre-season on July 7, and Summerville featured in West Ham’s in-house video content from those opening days of training.
This extended injury lay-off is the longest he has been sidelined for since injuring an ankle while playing for Leeds in April 2022, which also ended his season. It has put things into perspective for the former Feyenoord youngster.
Before his injury, Summerville was often used off the bench by Lopetegui, with only seven of his 19 Premier League appearances being starts. But he recently offered insight into how current coach Potter views his role in the West Ham team.
“I think every club is different, and I think it’s maybe on the coaches who made me play a certain way, something that has helped me in my career,” Summerville told West Ham’s official website in March, responding to a question from a fan. “For example, a coach at Leeds wanted me to play as a No 10 more, and our coach (Potter) wants me to be more of a left-winger and be the best one-on-one player, so I think I have learnt a lot of things from different coaches.”
Summerville is grateful for the club’s patience during this most frustrating period of his young career. Off the field, he has also formed a good bond with French defender Jean-Clair Todibo, who endured an injury-ravaged 2024-25 campaign himself.
When he signed a five-year contract to join West Ham, with the option of a further season, Summerville was a sought-after talent, having been voted the Championship’s Player of the Year for his exploits in 2023-24, delivering 21 goals and 10 assists across 49 appearances across all competitions as Leeds just missed out on promotion back to the Premier League. He had initially been on West Ham’s radar in the summer of 2023 but David Moyes, their manager at the time, opted against the move.
Last summer, a glowing reference from countryman John Heitinga, a former Moyes assistant at the London Stadium, convinced Summerville to reject interest from elsewhere. But despite his obvious attacking potential, it is worth revisiting West Ham’s unconvincing track record at signing Dutchmen, from Raimond van der Gouw and Marco Boogers to Jeroen Boere and Raymond Atteveld.
When answering those questions submitted by fans four months ago, a particular response was further evidence of Summerville’s new mindset. “I want to be very successful, and I want to win trophies,” he said. “I want to be a big, big player for West Ham, and I want to leave as a legend. I want to be remembered as one of the best Dutch players from West Ham!”
Summerville’s potential redemption arc will make for interesting viewing in the coming season.
(Top photos of Kudus, left, and Summerville: Getty Images)
Sport Witness
Player unconvinced on West Ham exit – Rejecting multiple clubs for Hammers
By Naveen Ullal
Guido Rodríguez has played 24 games for West Ham United since joining them on a free transfer in August of last year. His playing time reduced after the Hammers appointed Graham Potter in January.
The midfielder has been linked to a few clubs, including River Plate. Earlier this month, he insisted there’s been no talks with the Argentine club over a possible move.
Club América and Tigres UANL are keen on signing the West Ham player this summer. That’s according to Super Deportivo, and journalist César Luis Merlo covers it and states these two clubs want him.
César Luis Merlo claims the two Mexican clubs are seriously working on improving their midfield and are focusing on the 31-year-old.
He further adds both Club América and Tigres have contacted the Argentina international and ‘thoroughly explored the possibilities’ of securing his services.
It’s unclear whether Rodríguez will have an important role under Potter next season.
The player has interest from two Mexican clubs and despite this, the journalist states he’s ‘unconvinced about leaving’ the Premier League side in this window. For now, Rodríguez’s ‘intention remains focused on continuing’ at West Ham.
