Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez has been offered to a handful of Premier League sides on loan as his representatives continue to look for a route out of the Wanda Metropolitano.
Saul has been told he is free to leave the club this summer and had initially been expected to join Barcelona, who were pursuing a swap deal which would have seen Antoine Griezmann head back to Atleti in exchange, but talks broke down and Saul finds himself in limbo.
Saul has featured for Atleti already this season / Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
A move to the Premier League appears to be Saul’s only option at this point, given the potential finances involved. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have all been linked with the 26-year-old, but as of yet, none have shown enough interest in a permanent deal.
With his options limited, The Telegraph note that Saul has now been offered out on loan, in the hope that his suitors would be happier taking him on a temporary basis.
There’s no mention of which specific sides have received that offer, but it’s safe to say that the aforementioned trio will all have received a call alongside the rest of the Premier League’s elite, with Saul’s agents keen to resolve his future as soon as possible.
The response of the English sides is also unclear, but this report, which focuses primarily on Chelsea’s transfer business, notes that the Blues will only sign a new midfielder this summer if an opportunity arises which they cannot turn down.
Chelsea prioritised the £97.5m move for Romelu Lukaku and still retain an interest in Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde, so they don’t exactly have the kind of money needed to sign Saul on a permanent basis this summer.
The chance to land Saul on loan could well interest Liverpool, whom AS note had a bid of €40m prepared for the 26-year-old before the other English sides came in and complicated things.
Liverpool are chasing Saul / Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
90min understands that those in charge at Liverpool have warned Jurgen Klopp that he must sell players before he can buy new ones, so the chance to land Saul on the cheap may well be too good to pass up on.
As for United, a move for Saul seems somewhat unlikely as Paul Pogba is set to remain at Old Trafford for at least the next 12 months.
Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso has made it clear that he is not interested in selling star striker Dusan Vlahovic this summer.
The 21-year-old has been in ridiculous form in 2021. Since the turn of the year, Vlahovic has fired home 17 goals in just 24 games, and he kicked his current campaign off with a double in the cup victory over Crozone earlier this month.
Magic from Vlahovi?! ?
A stunning strike from distance seals a first half hat-trick for the young Fiorentina striker ? pic.twitter.com/hmmVvTzMeo
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) March 13, 2021
That kind of form has understandably caught the eye of Europe’s elite, with Atletico Madrid, Inter, Manchester City and Tottenham all keen on landing the Serb’s signature, but Fiorentina have always been reluctant to sell.
With the window slowly winding down, Fabrizio Romano notes that I Viola’s stance is ‘totally clear’. Commisso is not interested in offloading Vlahovic whatsoever and he has already rejected bids from Atletico to prove his point.
Atletico, who had been the leading suitors in the Vlahovic race, have turned their attention to Hertha Berlin’s Matheus Cunha, meaning the 21-year-old is unlikely to be going anywhere.
Having said that, earlier this week, Commisso did leave the door open to a potential departure for Vlahovic, but only if potential suitors put silly money on the table.
“About Vlahovic? If we talk about €100m or so, I will think carefully about it,” he told ANSA (via Calciomercato). “It’s useless to hide it because it’s right to reiterate, especially to the Florentines, the pandemic has caused considerable economic damage to clubs and therefore also to Fiorentina.
“So in the face of certain figures, you can’t, just for the sake of it or be presumptuous, immediately turn your back on.”
Vlahovic’s contract is winding down / Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images
That kind of money is unlikely to arrive between now and the end of the window. City have the funds but are focusing on Harry Kane, whose sale would bring that kind of money to Spurs, but that deal is looking increasingly unlikely with each passing day.
Vlahovic seems set to stay at Fiorentina for at least another year, at which point he could find himself in the middle of a transfer scramble. He has just two years remaining on his contract and could be available for a bargain price if he allows his deal to run down.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit back at Jurgen Klopp’s claims over Manchester United’s spending power, joking that he has ‘started buying electric cars’ to stop adding to the wealth of Manchester City and Chelsea.
Klopp recently commented that he can understand how the Premier League and European champions are both able to spend so much money, given their incredibly rich owners. But when discussing the Red Devils’ forays in the market, the German admitted: “I don’t know how they do it.”
Solskjaer has responded to Klopp / Pool/Getty Images
Solskjaer responded to Klopp’s jibes prior to Man Utd’s clash with Southampton, insisting that they are a ‘well run club’, and that he has started buying electrics cars so as not to increase the financial power of petrol and gas benefactors Man City and Chelsea.
“We are a well run club,” he said. “We do have a lot of fans out there and we do have good sponsorship deals.
“How we get the money, as a manager you want more and more. I have heard ‘no’ a few times.
“How other clubs run their clubs, there are different models at different clubs. I have started buying electric cars! That is all I want to say about that situation.”
Man Utd have been active in the transfer window, spending £72.9m on Jadon Sancho and a further £40m on Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane. There are rumours that the Red Devils are also aiming to recruit a midfielder, with Rennes star Eduardo Camavinga on their shortlist.
Meanwhile, both Chelsea and Man City have broken their transfer records this summer, with the Blues paying £97.5m for Romelu Lukaku and the Citizens triggering Jack Grealish’s £100m release clause from Aston Villa, although both raised significant funds through player sales.
Liverpool’s only expenditure comes in the form of centre-back Ibrahima Konate, who the Reds signed from RB Leipzig for a fee of €40m back in May. Klopp’s comments highlight the difference in spending power between the top clubs, as Liverpool aim to compete with the big-spending trio.
It’s hard to live up to the anticipation of the opening weekend of Premier League football, particularly when the 20 clubs provided such top quality entertainment on our return to stadiums up and down the country.
Gameweek 2 had to deal with plenty of expectation then, but Saturday’s competitors didn’t disappoint.
We saw teams pick up their first points of the season, continue winning streaks and for some, fall to a second defeat in as many matches.
But what have we learned from the first six matches of the 2021/22 Premier League season’s second week of existence?
Jota is shining for the Reds / Visionhaus/Getty Images
Some Liverpool supporters may have been a bit underwhelmed for the second week in a row when glancing at the team sheet, but the new starters did the business again in the 2-0 win over Burnley.
Diogo Jota has done brilliantly in replacing Roberto Firmino at centre-forward, while the right hand side movement and interplay between Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harvey Elliott and Mohamed Salah is a joy to behold.
Kostas Tsimikas has deputised admirably for Andy Robertson, while Naby Keita is benefitting from his chance in the first team. Two victories, two clean sheets and five goals scored (without key players), it’s been a confident start to the new campaign.
Don’t write them off just yet.
A strong performance from the Citizens / Michael Regan/Getty Images
Did it come as a surprise to anyone that Manchester City took out all their frustrations from the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on poor Norwich City?
The Canaries never had a prayer from the off, as Pep Guardiola’s rotated lineup tore them apart and put five goals past a helpless Tim Krul over the 90 minutes.
Gabriel Jesus shone by bagging a couple of assists, while Jack Grealish secured his first goal for his new club. Substitutes Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez got on the scoresheet, as Norwich crumbled against the deep, deep squad of the Cityzens.
Daniel Farke will be glad to have got such difficult matches out of the way already, but the pressure is on to start picking up points – or at least to look like picking up points.
OHHHHHH MYYYYYY DAYSSSSSSSS
??? pic.twitter.com/Q9pTHnwGQ7
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 21, 2021
People feared for Aston Villa after the opening day defeat to Watford, wondering if all this investment would end up biting them on the backside. Well, we shouldn’t worry too much, because Danny Ings will always score goals.
The 29-year-old kicked off the scoring in a 2-0 victory by firing a stunning overhead kick beyond Newcastle United goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, as Villa collected a much-needed three points.
There is a plan in place, but there were always going to be questions over whether they could win without Grealish. Time to move on from that debate.
As for Newcastle, it was another stinker. Only one shot on target over the 90 minutes, and pressure is already building on Steve Bruce’s shoulders.
Another vital point towards safety / Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images
You could be forgiven for thinking that the narrative and size of the occasion helped propel Brentford to victory over Arsenal, and all eyes were on how they’d cope in a more ‘typical’ Premier League outing.
Once again, they impressed. The Bees kept another clean sheet and looked the more likely team to break the deadlock, creating more chances than Crystal Palace over the 90 minutes.
Coach Thomas Frank will know how important every point will be at the end of the season, and as a general rule, any positive result on the road is a bonus for the clubs battling relegation.
Brentford are an ambitious club though, and after two matches in their new division, supporters may even be thinking they can do better than simply avoiding relegation.
Both sets of players put in good performances / Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Leeds United supporters were finally allowed to watch their team play at Elland Road in the Premier League after a 17-year absence, and they were treated to four goals in the 2-2 draw with Everton.
However, both sides will feel they could have won the match, were it not for lapses of concentration or poor decision-making at the back. Leeds captain Liam Cooper was to blame for the hosts, pulling down Dominic Calvert-Lewin to concede a needless penalty.
And Michael Keane followed that up with another error of judgement to match his howler against Southampton, finding himself out of position and missing the interception for Mateusz Klich’s equaliser.
Both teams are dreaming of pushing up the table, but improvements need to be made in their own penalty areas if they are to really progress.
Bissouma is the answer for many top six clubs’ problems / GLYN KIRK/Getty Images
Brighton fans won’t thank us for saying this, and they’ll rightly point to the fact that after two games, they’re currently occupying second place in the Premier League – but…
Yves Bissouma is proving himself to be far too good for the Seagulls. He was effortlessly brilliant in the 2-0 win over Watford on Saturday, making more tackles and interceptions than any other player on the pitch.
He also contributed at the other end, snatching the ball deep in Hornets territory before supplying Neal Maupay’s clincher. Surely there’s a top-six club crying out for his skillset?
And to think, Arsenal went to Brighton with a £50m cheque, and ended up bringing Ben White back to north London instead of Bissouma…
Pep Guardiola was extremely pleased that Manchester City picked up their first points of the new season with a 5-0 hammering of Norwich City, and praised Gabriel Jesus and Jack Grealish for their impact on the game.
Goals from Grealish, Aymeric Laporte, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and an own goal helped the Cityzens bounce back from their opening day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, as they dominated the newly-promoted Canaries from start to finish.
Guardiola was satisfied with his players’ reaction to the shock loss in north London, and spoke at length about the ‘exceptional’ Jesus, while encouraging Grealish to learn from Sterling in the art of goalscoring.
Here are the Spaniard’s quotes from his post-match interview.
Hugs all round / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
The Man City boss first congratulated his players for their response to the 1-0 defeat to Spurs, stressing that this result was ‘the consequence of how many good things’ they’ve done over the past week.
“This result was the consequence of how many good things we have done,” Guardiola said.
“We are still not at the top – there are still many things to do. We trained, we were refreshed, happy for these first points…. hopefully they will not be the last!”
Guardiola then opened up on Jesus, who impressed in the demolition of Norwich. The Brazilian bagged a couple of assists and remained a constant threat throughout, and the coach lauded his ‘exceptional performance’.
“He’s a player who likes to be wider than central position. One of the reasons why I’m a manager is when you can work with people and humans like Gabriel,” Guardiola remarked.
“He never complains, he plays five minutes, he plays the best five minutes he can do. He’s happy on left, right or centre and today the connection with Kyle was exceptional.
“I’m pleased with his performance; he was involved in three of our goals and is an Incredibly important player for us. He made an exceptional performance today, and I repeat, if he plays three minutes he plays the best three minutes for the club and everyone.
“The more you have in this position the better we are. When someone plays like this they deserve to play. He’s so young, big congratulations because he deserves in life the best. He’s so generous and as I say, I’m incredibly satisfied for him.”
Grealish enjoyed a stellar home debut, scoring his first goal for the club and starring until his substitution. Guardiola was keen to applaud the England star, while recommending that he take a leaf from Sterling’s book to become a goalscoring ‘machine’ in the penalty area.
“If he gets the mentality to score goals like Raheem, yeah (he can score more),” he said. “When Raheem was here when I first arrived he didn’t have goals in his mind and we immediately changed his arrival.
“Today he scored because he arrives in the centre, he’s a machine there. He changed his mind and decided he was going to score. Jack has this mentality to score goals and win games as well.
“But if he has the Raheem mentality then he can do it, too.”
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