Football transfer news

90min rounds up the latest transfer news, rumours and gossip circulating around the world…

After overseeing a 17th Premier League defeat of the season, head coach Ruben Amorim is in “extreme danger” of getting sacked by Manchester United regardless of their European exploits. (Football Transfers)

Vinicius Junior is poised to become the highest-paid player at Real Madrid once he puts pen to paper on a new deal which stretches to 2030 and is worth €20m per year after tax – the equivalent of roughly £325,000 per week. (AS – Spain)

Chelsea have opened negotiations with Milan for Rafael Leao, a player valued at £62.5m. (CaughtOffside)

However, the Blues are at risk of losing out in the race for Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen after Liverpool submitted a formal offer for the sought-after centre-back. (Cadena SER – Spain)

Manchester City face competition from Al Hilal in their pursuit of Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. The Riyadh-based outfit are willing to shatter the division’s transfer record with a €140m (£118.6m) bid. (Fichajes – Spain)

City have already bested Juventus in the transfer market by reaching a verbal agreement to sign the Serie A side’s exciting young defender Nicolo Savona. (Foot Mercato – France)

Arsenal‘s David Raya is being targeted by Real Madrid as a long-term replacement for Thibaut Courtois. (The Sun)

Incoming Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso wants to bring Jonathan Tah and Alejandro Grimaldo from Bayer Leverkusen with him. Both players are key targets for Barcelona. (El Nacional – Spain)

Bruno Fernandes‘ Manchester United departure is described as “a matter of time” if his side fails to defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final and thereby miss out on Champions League qualification. Saudi giants Al Hilal are willing to offer the 30-year-old a contract worth €70m (£59.3m) per year. (Fichajes – Spain)

Fernandes is thought to have a €65m (£55.1m) release clause in his United contract which Saudi side are Al Ahli are willing to trigger. (Sacha Tavolieri)

United have already taken steps towards replacing Fernandes. Ruben Amorim’s side are set to rival Juventus for the coveted signature of Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali this summer. (Corriere dello Sport – Italy)

Real Madrid are prepared to part ways with Rodrygo but have no intention of losing Endrick. The young Brazilian is “untouchable”. (Relevo – Spain)

Juventus are exploring an extension to Randal Kolo Muani‘s loan from Paris Saint-Germain, although any deal is complicated by his contractual status in the French capital. (Calciomercato – Italy)

Eric Garcia is keen on staying at Barcelona but the Catalan giants have not closed off the possibility of a sale. The versatile defender is a target for Cesc Fabregas’ Como. (Fichajes – Spain)

Manchester United are mulling over a move for long-term Tottenham target Angel Gomes. The Lille midfielder will be out of contract this summer and has also attracted interest from Crystal Palace and Everton. (CaughtOffside)

Aston Villa could lose their star midfielder Youri Tielemans to the Saudi Pro League this summer. Al Hilal are prepared to offer €45m (£38.1m) for the Belgian midfielder. (Fichajes – Spain)

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In its final iteration of 2024/25, El Clasico refused to disappoint.

It’s been a campaign of outstanding duels between Spain’s two behemoths. Two Barcelona routs were followed up by an all-time great Copa del Rey final last month, and there were goals galore in Catalonia on Sunday afternoon.

Travis Scott was in attendance for Barcelona’s hugely significant victory, as the hosts ruthlessly took advantage of a Real Madrid defence that spent much of the contest stargazing in homage to the American rapper.

This was as open a football match as you’re ever likely to see. There were seven goals, but there could’ve been at least 67. Every attacking sequence seemed to result in a moment of note, and only rarely did the bout allow those involved to come up for air.

In the end, Barca’s 4-3 triumph has left them on the brink of La Liga glory, all while confirming 2024/25 to be a season of palpable disappointment in the Spanish capital. Here are four things we learned from the game.

Last season’s La Liga and Champions League double looked set to be the start of a period of Real Madrid supremacy in Spain, with many suggesting that the rich were only getting richer by adding, arguably, the world’s best footballer to their ranks in Kylian Mbappe.

The Frenchman, individually, has performed well after a fairly slow start. His hat-trick means he now leads Robert Lewandowski in the Pichichi standings with 27 La Liga goals, but Mbappe’s goalscoring prize is likely to be the only honour Madrid garners from what’s been a bitterly disappointing campaign.

Not even master balancer Carlo Ancelotti has been able to get this set of players to coalesce. While Madrid have the capacity to purr as a collective, such cohesion has rarely been prevalent. As a result, they’ve often manifested a rather disjointed form, and Ancelotti’s antiquated ideals pale in comparison to the thrilling principles this Barca team adhere to.

Sunday’s defeat means Ancelotti’s final year will end without domestic silverware or the Champions League, and it’s up to Xabi Alonso to get Madrid functioning with the telepathy which has thrust Barcelona to the promised land this term.

The only thing missing from Yamal’s performance against Inter on Tuesday was a finishing touch. While the Spaniard was thwarted by the outstanding Yann Sommer on several occasions in midweek, Yamal was also guilty of producing finishes which didn’t quite match the quality of his overall performance.

However, the teenage superstar didn’t allow any time for talk over a potential problem in the final third to linger on Sunday. Amid another divine display from perhaps the world’s best, Yamal scored Barcelona’s second with an emphatic curling effort.

The winger latched onto Ferran Torres’ layoff with the utmost intent, subtly bending the ball past a despairing Thibaut Courtois. Not even Tuesday night Sommer would’ve had a chance.

You suspect this is the sort of goal Yamal will make a habit of scoring.

The goals were so unrelenting at the Montjuic that they seemed to lose value. We’re not exactly sure how ‘fun’ this Clasico was given the level of defending on display.

Flick’s aggressive defensive line worked wonderfully well when Barcelona were fresh, but this season’s been a slog, and their energy levels without the ball are no longer conducive to high-line success. They’ve conceded at least twice in five of their previous seven outings in all competitions, and at least three in four. If Borja Iglesias ran riot against this fading Barcelona team, what did you think Mbappe and Vini Jr were going to do?

A zonal approach meant Madrid’s two superstars often broke in behind without a touch. After a turnover, the hosts were immediately vulnerable. Now, there’s no denying that Flick’s aggressive line has been key to their success this season, aiding their capacity to suffocate and sustain, but Barcelona’s woeful defensive showings down the stretch beg the question as to whether such an approach is sustainable in the long run.

However, while there is a method to Barca’s madness, Madrid were without a single idea as to how they were going to stop the home side from winning Sunday’s Clasico. They haven’t been well-coached out of possession for much of Ancelotti’s second tenure, and Mbappe’s arrival has exacerbated their woes without the ball.

You can go through, around, and over this Madrid backline.

Rodrygo has long been slated as the underrated fourth horseman of this Real Madrid attack, but the Brazilian has seemingly fallen out of favour ahead of a potential summer move away.

After missing the 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo because of an apparent illness, Rodrygo, who’s played over 3,200 minutes in all competitions this season, was back in Ancelotti’s squad for the Clasico but failed to take to the field.

Something isn’t quite right. Ancelotti turned to debutant Victor Munoz to replace the injured Vinicius Junior in the closing stages despite having Rodrygo available. There has been talk of a potential departure this summer, and Ancelotti’s sudden preference for Arda Guler suggests the Brazilian star may well be on his way out of the Spanish capital.

This felt like a distinct indication.

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Leroy Sane is yet to pen a contract extension with Bayern Munich, and several Premier League clubs remain on high alert regarding the winger’s situation.

Sane’s current deal expires in June, and Bayern have offered the German international a new deal with a reduced salary. After enduring a frustrating end to the 2023/24 season, Sane has enjoyed a strong season under Vincent Kompany as the club regained the Bundesliga title.

The 29-year-old has scored a career-high 11 league goals this term, adding five assists, and Bayern’s sporting director, Max Eberl, said before Saturday’s win over Borussia Monchengladbach that Die Roten want to tie Sane down to an extension.

“Our wish would be to continue with Leroy,” Eberl said, via Sky Sport Germany. “But we’ve also set ourselves a framework, where we said we want to operate within that framework. And if that framework were to be broken—subjunctive!—then it would be very, very difficult.”

It’s reported that Sane isn’t happy with the reduced salary offered by Bayern – believed to be around €14m or €15m – and there’s still a possibility that he departs Bavaria on a free transfer this summer.

The Germany international has Premier League admirers, and it’s claimed Sane would be more open to a move to either Arsenal or Chelsea over Tottenham Hotspur or Newcastle United, who have also been credited with an interest in his services.

La Liga is also on the table for Sane, although neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid are desperately in need of attacking reinforcements and it seems unlikely for Atletico Madrid to make a move.

Thus, the Premier League does seem the most realistic destination for Sane, who spent four destructive years with an all-conquering Manchester City team before joining Bayern in 2020 off the back of an ACL recovery, should he not extend.

“It’s up to Leroy now,” director Eberl added. “We hope he does it. If not, we’ll have to find another solution.” Bayern hope for clarity before their final game of the season at Hoffenheim this weekend.

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s time with Al Nassr could be drawing to a close amid another frustrating Saudi Pro League campaign.

Ronaldo, who joined the club at the end of 2022 following his Manchester United exile, has been a relentless goal-getter in the Middle East, scoring 91 times in 103 Al Nassr appearances but his stint is yet to deliver on the silverware front.

While Al Nassr are stocked with familiar faces, including Jhon Duran and Sadio Mane, they’ve struggled to muster a title challenge despite Ronaldo’s goals. A 3-2 defeat to league leaders Al Ittihad on Wednesday (a game in which they led 2-0) all but ended their pursuit of Saudi glory and MARCA claims that Ronaldo’s post-match reaction to the defeat didn’t go down too well with club officials.

The all-time great reportedly left Al Nassr’s stadium without changing his kit.

The club’s recent malaise also saw them exit the Asian Champions League at the hands of Japanese outfit Kawasaki Frontale in the last four, and their current fourth-place standing in the Saudi Pro League means they’re currently not assured of a spot in the AFC competition next season.

As a result, Ronaldo is believed to be reconsidering his future in Riyadh, having previously been keen to extend his stay by another two years. He’s desperate to add to his trophy haul before calling it a career, but only has one piece of silverware – the 2023 Arab Champions Cup – to show for his time in Saudi Arabia.

If the 40-year-old, who aims to play at the 2026 World Cup with Portugal, decides to move on, speculation will be rife regarding his next club. A return to Sporting CP may well be on the table, with his former club potentially viewing Ronaldo as a stop-gap option to replace Viktor Gyokeres, who looks likely to depart the Lisbon side this summer.

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Barcelona moved one game away from lifting the 2024/25 La Liga title with a frankly ridiculous 4-3 victory over rivals Real Madrid.

“The only thing that matters is winning,” Hansi Flick declared ahead of a league-defining Clasico. The route to Barcelona’s recent victories hasn’t always been so straightforward and Sunday was no different. Flick’s side trailed for the seventh time in the past eight games as Kylian Mbappe rattled in a rapid-fire record-breaking brace.

Madrid’s superiority was short-lived. Eric Garcia ghosted into the penalty box to head Barcelona back into the contest four minutes after Mbappe’s second, ramping up a Montjuic crowd which had only just begun to be treated to the full extent of the game’s utter mayhem.

Two goals in as many minutes from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha had Barcelona 3-2 up barely past the half-hour mark. Carlo Ancelotti scarcely had time to raise an eyebrow at Yamal’s fizzer into the bottom corner before his Brazilian colleague made the most of a high turnover.

It was that ferocity of Barcelona’s press – miraculously undiluted despite the draining two-hour defeat to Inter in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final – which completely derailed Real Madrid. Lucas Vazquez couldn’t handle the intensity by the end of a blistering opening 45 minutes, limply giving up possession to Raphinha who combined with Ferran Torres to make it 4-2 at the interval.

Barcelona assumed control of a second half which wasn’t quite as deranged as the first period, yet it was Real Madrid who struck back through Mbappe. The Frenchman completed his hat-trick to add some tension to the final 20 minutes.

Madrid, the side more synonymous with late goals than any other, came close to penning another page in their legendary history of dramatic comebacks, only to be undone by the offside flag.

Fermin Lopez’s late disallowed goal took away little from a win which moved Barcelona seven points clear at La Liga’s summit with just three games remaining.

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Inaki Pena (GK), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK), Ronald Araujo, Marc Casado, Ansu Fati, Pau Victor, Robert Lewandowski.

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

Subs not used: Andriy Lunin (GK), Sergio Mestre (GK), Jacobo Ramon, Jesus Vallejo, Youssef, Enriquez, Rodrygo.

Player of the match – Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

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