Football transfer news

Roma are interested in signing Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek before the end of the summer transfer window.

Jose Mourinho is shaping his squad up nicely in the Italian capital, having already secured the singings of Bryan Reynolds from FC Dallas, Roger Ibanez from Atalanta, Rui Patricio from Wolves, Eldor Shomurodov from Genoa, Matias Vina from Palmeiras and, most recently, Tammy Abraham from Chelsea.

However, Mourinho is not totally satisfied and wants to add some new physicality to his midfield options. According to Corriere dello Sport, the Roma boss is willing to let the likes of Steven Nzonzi and Javier Pastore depart in order to do so, and will look at Loftus-Cheek as an option to buy.

However, the Portuguese mastermind reportedly sees Borussia Monchengladbach’s Denis Zakaria as the ideal acquisition for the position, although a deal appears complicated given Gladbach’s demands of €20m.

Seeing as the Swiss international’s contract runs out next summer, Roma would only be willing to part with €10m-€15m for the player. And, should that deal not come to fruition, it is believed that Mourinho is keen to bring Loftus-Cheek to Serie A.

The 58-year-old gave the Englishman his debut for Chelsea in 2014 and although first-team chances have been hard to come by, Loftus-Cheek has gone on to feature 82 times for the Blues, scoring 12 and assisting 11 in the process.

The 25-year-old has struggled to really break into the side and spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Fulham, playing 30 times in the Premier League as the Cottagers were relegated back down to the Championship at the first time of asking.

With the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante in Thomas Tuchel’s ranks it’s tough to see Loftus-Cheek getting the opportunities he’d hope for, suggesting a move away to Mourinho’s Roma and ending a 17-year affiliation with Chelsea could be the answer to reigniting a career that showed so much promise in its early stages.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin has tested positive for COVID-19, which will force him out of this weekend’s La Liga fixture against Real Betis.

22-year-old Lunin is only back-up to first choice stopper Thibaut Courtois but has been an important part of the matchday squad since the start of last season.

The Ukraine international has been on the bench for Real’s opening two games of the season. His enforced isolation also risks ruling him out international duty after being called up for his country’s World Cup qualifiers starting next week.

A statement from Real confirmed only that Lunin has tested positive and made no mention of the length of his isolation or whether any other members of the squad or staff require additional testing if anyone has been in close contact with the goalkeeper.

With Lunin unable to take his usual place on the bench for the Betis fixture, Real must decide what selection decisions to make ahead of the game on Saturday.

20-year-old Toni Fuidias has been on an expanded bench in addition to Lunin for the two La Liga games played so far. Real could choose to make do with Fuidias alone this time, opting to fill the space with another outfield player, or call up another Castilla goalkeeper in Luis Lopez.

Real have taken four points from their opening La Liga fixtures this season, enjoying a 4-1 win over Alaves before being held to a 3-3 draw against Levante last time out. They sit third in the table behind Sevilla and Atletico Madrid, both of whom have maximum points so far.

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Donny van de Beek’s agent has spoken out over the Manchester United midfielder’s lack of game time, insisting that the Dutchman ‘cannot have another season like last year’ at Old Trafford.

The 24-year-old joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2020 in a deal worth around £40m, but has largely struggled for minutes under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Van de Beek didn’t feature in either of Man Utd’s opening matches of the new Premier League season, but Solskjaer stressed the midfielder will be ‘important’ to the team after their 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday.

And agent Guido Albers has had his say on the situation, telling De Telegraaf (via Sport Witness) that the former Ajax man is expecting to play a bigger role in the team this campaign.

“Everyone in the club knows that Donny cannot have another season like last year,” he said.

“The fans had already embraced him before, but the most important thing is that the trainer has now provided clarity to the English press.

“We are happy with that. And I assume that Donny will play a lot in one of the positions in midfield in the coming period.”

Expectations were high when Van de Beek arrived in Manchester last summer, but he has failed to make his mark when given the chance, although opportunities have been few and far between.

The Dutchman completed the full 90 minutes in only three Premier League matches last year, and didn’t step onto the pitch at all in the Europa League final loss to Villarreal.

Van de Beek has spent the summer working on his fitness in order to adapt to the demands of the English top flight, and his new robust physique led supporters into thinking he’d feature from the off.

However, Solskjaer’s decision not to deploy him against either Leeds or Southampton caused concern that the Netherlands international could be on his way out, but Van de Beek is not interested in any escape routes out of the club, preferring to fight for his place in the team.

Tottenham have begun informal talks with the representatives of Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar over a potential move to north London.

The highly rated Frenchman is one of a number of players who has been linked with a move away from the Ligue 1 outfit amid the club’s financial uncertainty, having scored eight goals and assisted four in 33 appearances last season.

Sky Sports report that Spurs have opened informal talks with the 23-year-old’s representatives over a possible switch to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

Aouar’s current deal with Lyon runs until the summer of 2023, although given the financial struggles that French football finds itself in, Spurs would still be likely to acquire their target for a comparatively lesser fee.

The talented playmaker has previously attracted vast interest with Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid all being linked earlier in the summer. Although Spurs entered the race for his signature later than their competitors, it would now seem that talks have begun.

The player himself is open to a move although would reportedly prefer Champions League football, having helped Lyon to a fourth-placed finish in the French top flight and Europa League qualification last term.

As a result, Aouar is willing to bide his time and see what options he is given next summer, when he will undoubtedly have his pick from a greater pool of suitors – although Lyon will likely be keen to sell as soon as possible given he’ll be entering the final year of his contract at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

Should the Frenchman switch to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this window, he would join Bryan Gil from Sevilla, and Pierluigi Gollini and Cristian Romero from Atalanta through the door.

Aouar is not the only potential new addition in the final stages of this summer’s transfer window for Tottenham, either.

Espirito Santo’s side are close to securing a deal for Metz starlet Pape Matar Sarr, while also maintaining interest in Wolves’ Adama Traore, Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma, Cagliari’s Nahitan Nandez and PSV Eindhoven’s Noni Madueke.

Meanwhile, Tanguy Ndombele is reportedly keen to leave the club, having cost Spurs a club record £54m in the summer of 2019. There has been speculation over a move to Bayern Munich, with Corentin Tolisso possibly coming the other way.

There is also the small matter of Harry Kane’s future. The England captain wants a move to Manchester City but so far the two clubs have not made any progress on a potential deal.

Chelsea were asked to pay Erling Haaland wages to the equivalent of €1m per week by super-agent Mino Raiola before the Blues ultimately turned their attention back to Romelu Lukaku.

Chelsea made a new striker their number one priority for this summer and eventually secured the £97.5m club-record signing of Lukaku earlier this month. The Belgian has since scored on his second debut, eight years after his first, in a comfortable win against Arsenal.

Having spent several months exploring options and weighing things up, Lukaku was revealed to be Chelsea’s preferred target as early as May. But he publicly expressed a desire to stay at Inter soon after and it appeared the Blues would have to reassess.

90min explained in early July that Chelsea had decided to pursue Haaland instead and were willing to offer up to £150m – but ideally closer to £135m – in order to beat the rush for the Norwegian’s coveted signature ahead of his £64m release clause becoming active in 2022.

However, that path didn’t progress and the changing situation regarding Lukaku, sparked by Inter’s need to sell in order to raise cash, brought Chelsea back to the Belgian.

With regard to Haaland, it has now been revealed by Bild that the player’s camp were seeking a contract and bonuses that were bordering on extortionate. It is said that Raiola, who has represented the 21-year-old since before his 2019 explosion onto the scene in Salzburg, requested a salary for his client from Chelsea worth £820,000 per week, or over £42m per year.

Additional demands are said to have included £34m as an agent’s fee, and a salary for himself as part of a total package valued at an estimated £275m over five years, excluding any transfer fee.

Such huge numbers would be enough to put any club off. But even though Chelsea still had to offer Lukaku a club-record contract, his estimated salary of up to £450,000 per week, including bonuses, is not much more than half of what they might have had to pay Haaland.

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