The summer transfer window is here, and there’s plenty of gossip swirling about who’s moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings and goings and, of course, done deals!
TOP STORY: Werner linked with Juventus move
Timo Werner‘s departure from Chelsea looks possible this summer, with Juventus emerging as a potential suitor for the 26-year-old striker, according to Sky Sport Italy.
Juventus manager Max Allegri has put the Germany international on his transfer shortlist, but the priority is still to secure a permanent deal for Alvaro Morata from Atletico Madrid. The report also mentions Manchester United‘s Anthony Martial, although sources told ESPN last week that the player will remain at Old Trafford.
Werner hinted at a move away from Stamford Bridge in order to secure more game time ahead of the World Cup in November following the arrival of Raheem Sterling, with manager Thomas Tuchel criticising his player’s response.
Werner has already been offered to his old side RB Leipzig as part of a player exchange for defender Nordi Mukiele, as Chelsea looked to derail Mukiele’s pending transfer to PSG. However, Sky Sport Germany reports that the Bundesliga side are interested bringing him back on a season-long loan.
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21.33 BST: Former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Ruben Vinagre is set to join Everton after completing his medical on Tuesday, reports Fabrizio Romano. The 23-year-old from Sporting CP will join the Toffees on loan with an option to make the move permanent. The Portugal international only completed his full transfer to the Primeira Liga side this summer following a successful loan spell last season.
21.16 BST: Former Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool forward Luis Suarez says he’s reached a pre-agreement to return to boyhood club Nacional in Uruguay. The 35-year-old had been linked with LAFC, the Seattle Sounders and unnamed MLS clubs for much of Tuesday, but it’s back to where it all began for “El Pistolero,” it seems.
— Luis Suarez (@LuisSuarez9) July 26, 2022
21.00 BST: There is still a gulf between Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion as they negotiate transfer fees for left-back Marc Cucurella, according to Sky Sport Deutschland’s Florian Plettenberg, with the Premier League champions offering €35m and the South Coast club demanding €50m. If the two English sides can’t find common ground, Pep Guardiola & Co. will turn to 24-year-old Croatia international Borna Sosa of VfB Stuttgart.
20.27 BST: Stade Rennais have reached an agreement with Bologna that will see defender Arthur Theate move to Ligue 1, reports Gianluca Di Marzio. The 22-year-old Belgium international will move for a transfer fee of €20m, plus €2m in add-ons, having only joined the Italian on a permanent basis in June following a successful loan spell that saw the defender make 31 appearances in Serie A last season.
19.54 BST: Stuttgart midfielder Orel Mangala will join Nottingham Forest after he completes his medical on Tuesday, reports Sky Sport Deutschland’s Florian Plettenberg. The newly promoted Premier League side is expected to pay a transfer fee of around €15m for the 24-year-old twice-capped Belgium international, who will become the fourth Bundesliga player to move to West Bridgford this summer transfer window, following Bayern Munich’s Omar Richards, Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin, and Mainz’s Moussa Niakhate.
18.48 BST: RB Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele has joined Paris Saint-Germain on a five-year contract, the French champions announced on Tuesday. The 24-year-old once-capped France international has predominantly played as a right-back in his career, but is also capable of lining up in the centre of defence.
🔴 #WelcomeNordi 🔵
👋 @NordiMukiele pic.twitter.com/K8oD9K3VqL
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) July 26, 2022
18.15 BST: Aaron Ramsey is no longer a Juventus player, as the Italian giants have announced that the club and the Wales international have mutually decided to terminate midfielder’s contract. The 31-year-old has struggled since arriving in Turin three years ago, and was unable to reignite his career during a loan spell at Rangers during the second half of last season. The former Arsenal standout has been linked with a move to Nottingham Forest, where he played on loan from the Gunners in 2010-11.
17.42 BST: The rumour mill is abuzz with gossip of Uruguay striker Luis Suarez joining Gareth Bale and Giorgio Chiellini at LAFC this summer. Unfortunately for the MLS leaders, that deal won’t happen, according to the Athletic’s Paul Tenorio.
The Black and Gold reportedly are looking to move on from No. 9 Cristian Arango, clearing a Designated Player slot on their roster in the process, and bring in an established, world-class striker. Suarez, who’s a free agent after his contract with Atletico Madrid expired at the end of last month, fit the bill, but he’s reportedly not the frontman Steve Cherundolo’s team will bring to Hollywood.
17.09 BST: Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has agreed personal terms ahead of a potential move to French club Nice, according to L’Equipe, but only if the Foxes can sign a replacement.
16.33 BST: Gianluca Busio enjoyed a fine first season in Serie A, playing nearly 2,000 minutes for Venezia, but with the club relegated to Italy’s second division, will the United States midfielder stick around?
The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio reports that expansion side Charlotte FC attempted to bring the Greensboro, N.C. native back to his home state. Tom Bogert of MLSsoccer.com writes that the 20-year-old’s former club, Sporting Kansas City, also tried to convince Busio to return to MLS, but that he’s decided to sign a new deal with Venezia ahead of their push for promotion.
16.00 BST: Chelsea need new signings, and quickly, to avoid going backwards this season, writes Mark Ogden.
Chelsea have done well to sign Sterling (27) from Manchester City and Koulibaly (31) from Napoli, but they are both signings for the here and now, rather than for the future. And with Lukaku returning to Inter Milan on loan, and Rudiger (Real Madrid) and Christensen (Barcelona) leaving as free agents, Sterling and Koulibaly are arguably plugging gaps created by departures as opposed to adding to existing strength and quality. This was a summer when Chelsea needed to build and re-focus rather than plug gaps.
Winning the FIFA Club World Cup and reaching the finals of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup — both lost on penalties to Liverpool — might paint a picture of a successful season for Chelsea, but Tuchel will know that his team suffered an alarming loss of form in the final weeks of last term, winning just three of their last 10 games in all competitions.
For the former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain coach, the uncertainty off the pitch was mirrored by a loss of direction on it and preseason has done nothing to reassure him that things are changing in both areas.
15.20 BST: Fabrizio Romano claims that Palmeiras wonderkid Endrick is on the radar of Europe’s top clubs.
Endrick, 16, signed a new contract recently with a €60m release clause, but can’t move clubs until he is 18.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain are watching the Brazilian forward, with Premier League sides also showing interest.
14.42 BST: Real Madrid defender Miguel Gutierrez has caught the eye of Leeds United, according to Marca.
Leeds have let midfielder Kalvin Phillips (Man City) and winger Raphinha (Barcelona) depart for a combined fee of over £100m already this summer and now want to strengthen at left-back.
Gutierrez, 20, made his first-team debut for Real Madrid in 2021 but hasn’t been able to cement his place in the side and could choose to move on, permanently or on loan, to continue his development.
13.53 BST: Chelsea are continuing to chase defensive additions and want to sign Inter MIlan full-back Denzel Dumfries, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Dumfries, 26, has impressed in recent seasons and Inter want at least €40m for his services as they battle financial issues.
However, the Serie A club only need to let one star player depart and if PSG sign centre-back Milan Skriniar then Inter will keep hold of Dumfries.
13.30 BST: Why did Matthijs de Ligt leave Juventus?
0:54
New Bayern Munich signing Matthijs de Ligt says he learned a lot at Juventus but feels the system potentially made it difficult for him to express himself.
12.44 BST: Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Manchester United’s training ground on Tuesday to hold talks over his future at the club.
Ronaldo, 37, has not yet trained under new manager Erik ten Hag after being given permission to miss the tour of Thailand and Australia due to personal reasons.
The Portugal international made an official request to leave United this summer so he can continue to play Champions League football next season, sources confirmed to ESPN. He returned to United a year ago for a second stint at Old Trafford and scored 18 goals in 30 league appearances, but the team finished sixth in the Premier League and did not qualify for next season’s elite European club competition.
Ronaldo has a contract with the club until June 2023, with an option to extend it for a further year, but has asked for a transfer.
12.17 BST: Bayern Munich have signed Rennes striker Mathys Tel for a reported fee of €28.5m.
Tel, 17, made 10 appearances for the Ligue 1 side last season and became the youngest player in the history of Rennes.
With 10 goals in 15 appearances for the France U17 and U18 national teams, Tel is considered a top young prospect.
He told the club’s website: “FC Bayern are one of the best teams in the world. I’m very much looking forward to this great challenge and I will give my all for this club. I’ve been very impressed with the discussions with Hasan Salihamidzic and the FC Bayern management, and I quickly realized I definitely wanted to come to Munich.”
12.02 BST: Manchester City have announced the signing of Netherlands international defender Kerstin Casparij.
Casparij, 21, moves from Eredivisie outfit FC Twente and has signed a three-year deal which will see her wear the No. 2 shirt.
“I’m overjoyed — I have no words to describe how happy I am to be a Manchester City player and I can’t wait to play for this beautiful Club,” she said. “I felt like the whole club is a family and the perfect fit for me — I immediately got such a good feeling about the place and it was a no brainer for me.
“Having players feeling at home at a club is a huge strength for a team and if you want to be competing and winning titles, you have to have that unity, so that was very important to me. I’m a modern right wing-back and I feel as though I’ll fit into the Manchester City style very well, which makes this move the perfect one.”
12.00 BST: New Man City striker Erling Haaland looks ready for the Premier League.
1:33
Shaka Hislop feels Manchester City have no reason to worry that pressure will get to Erling Haaland in his first season in the Premier League.
11.11 BST: Sport says that Xavi Hernandez wants Barcelona to re-sign Lionel Messi.
Messi, 35, left Camp Nou on a free transfer for PSG last summer, due to Barca’s financial issues meaning they were unable to register his new contract.
Xavi said on Tuesday that Messi returning to Barcelona is “impossible” at the moment but has not definitively closed the door on bringing the Argentine back to the club in the future.
Barca president Joan Laporta told ESPN last week that he considers it his responsibility to ensure Messi has a “more beautiful ending” at Camp Nou following his painful exit last summer.
“Leo has a contract, so it’s impossible, impossible,” Xavi told a news conference in Dallas ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Juventus at the Cotton Bowl. “It doesn’t make sense to speak about Messi. He is the best player in the world and the best ever. The president has already said that he hopes Messi’s story has not finished with Barcelona. We will see in the future, but it’s not the moment to speak about Leo, it’s the moment to talk about the exciting players we have here.”
10.45 BST: Atletico Madrid’s finances have improved this summer with their new sponsorship deals, Cadena COPE reports, but players such as Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata would still have to leave the club to make room for Cristiano Ronaldo.
The club announced last week that Civitas would be replacing Wanda as the naming rights holder to the Metropolitano stadium, while the crypto app WhaleFin is their new shirt sponsor.
That means they have more room to manoeuvre with their LaLiga salary cap, according to the radio station, but a move for Ronaldo would still be complicated unless high earners Griezmann and Morata depart.
Cadena SER claims that Atletico would be Ronaldo’s “third choice” as a potential escape route from Manchester United — behind Chelsea and Bayern Munich — but despite concerns over the possible reaction from fans, he “wouldn’t mind” playing there because “his obsession is [winning] the Champions League.”
10.11 BST: Saul Niguez‘s entourage say that right now there’s “no chance of him leaving Atletico Madrid this summer,” Cadena SER reports, with no talks currently open with other clubs.
Saul, 27, spent last season on loan at Chelsea but failed to make an impact, making just 10 appearances — five of them as a substitute — in the Premier League.
According to the radio station, the midfielder would have no issues with staying at Atletico this year and trying to force his way into coach Diego Simeone’s starting XI, having previously grown disillusioned with being played out of position.
Meanwhile, Yannick Carrasco will be the next Atletico player to agree a contract extension, Marca reports, after new deals were all but wrapped up for Jan Oblak and Thomas Lemar.
Atletico are keen to raise the Belgium international’s release clause above its current level of €60m, which has made him a feasible target for Premier League clubs such as Newcastle.
Carrasco’s agent Pini Zahavi is working on an agreement, according to Marca, with the player considered an “untouchable” core member of the Atletico team.
09.24 BST: Manchester United midfielder James Garner says he is prepared to go on loan for a third successive season if he does not feel he will get a chance in the first team at Old Trafford this season.
Garner, 21, started 44 games last term as he helped Nottingham Forest gain promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs, having also has spells on loan at the City Ground and at Watford in 2020-21.
The England U21 is hoping he can impress new United boss Erik ten hag, but is ready to go elsewhere in search of more regular game time if he has to.
“I had a really good season last season — full of confidence, full of experience,” he said. “The experience I didn’t have, I feel that now I do have.
“I played in some big pressure games, and I just think it’s a new and improved me. It was almost as perfect a loan experience that I could possibly have had. I played pretty much every single game, played well and ended up winning promotion. For me, it’s probably the perfect loan.
“However, for me now because I’ve played two seasons back-to-back, where I’ve been playing games non-stop, I don’t really want to stop that. I want to play week in, week out. That is of course what I want to do. I’m not too sure but preseason has been good so far and, like I said, hopefully in the next two, three weeks — we’ve still got games left — I can show what I can do.”
08.39 BST: AC Milan are prepared to increase their bid for Belgium international midfielder Charles De Ketelaere, Calciomercato reports.
Club Brugge have so far held firm in their resistance to Milan’s interest in the 21-year-old, who scored 14 goals for the Jupiler League champions last season.
De Ketelaere has become Milan’s priority in this window, and so they are preparing a package of a €32m offer and a substantial percentage of any future transfer fee for Brugge.
08.00 BST: Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos is feeling is feeling “very positive” about signing a new contract, coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst has said.
Morelos, 26, is in the last year of his contract at Ibrox, where he has scored 112 goals in 224 games since arriving in 2017.
The Colombian has been linked with clubs in Europe and MLS, but Van Bronckhorst is optimistic he will stay in Glasgow.
“Alfredo is very positive about a new contract,” Van Bronckhorst told Sky. “We are doing our very best to get a new deal agreed with Morelos and we hope to have that sorted out in the coming weeks.
“He’s sharper and sharper. We’re monitoring his development over the next couple of weeks. When he’s fit, he is one option for me. Up front as well we all know his qualities. I’d rather have him back. He has been working very hard.”
1:34
Craig Burley and Jan Age Fjortoft debate if Chelsea or Barcelona is the better option for Sevilla’s Jules Kounde.
PAPER GOSSIP (by Abbie Ingham)
– Cristiano Ronaldo is travelling back to England to discuss his future at Manchester United with manager Erik ten Hag, reveals The Athletic. The 37-year-old is understood to have informed the Red Devils of his desire to leave this summer if a reasonable offer arrives, but the Premier League side continue to maintain that he will not be transferred. It is reported that the Portugal international is more likely to stay at Old Trafford and fight for his place next season.
– Newcastle United are in talks with PSG for Julian Draxler, as per Le10 Sport. The 28-year-old midfielder is on a list of players that Luis Campos intends to move on this summer, alongside Layvin Kurzawa, Mauro Icardi, Ander Herrera and Leandro Paredes. The Magpies are looking to bring in attacking options and, although they couldn’t secure a deal for Bayer Leverkusen‘s Moussa Diaby, Draxler could be available for a fee of around €25m.
– Japhet Tanganga wants to leave Tottenham Hotspur for AC Milan this summer, according to Calciomercato. The 23-year-old is waiting to move to San Siro on a season-long loan, with Spurs reportedly insisting on the inclusion of a clause to re-sign him for a set fee as part of the deal. The Tottenham academy graduate has a greater chance of first-team football with the Rossoneri, having made just 11 Premier League appearances for Antonio Conte’s side last season.
– West Ham United have rejected Fulham‘s €17.5m bid for Issa Diop, reports L’Equipe. The Hammers are understood to be negotiating a deal closer to €15m plus €6m in add-ons to allow the 25-year-old to leave this summer. David Moyes was initially reported to have blocked a move away, but the centre-back is now allowed to leave West Ham if his valuation is met.
– Bayern Munich are not interested in Espanyol‘s Raul de Tomas as a replacement for Robert Lewandowski. Bild has denied rumours that the Bundesliga champions are preparing to make a formal offer for the 27-year-old striker, with 17-year-old Mathys Tel already bound for the Allianz Arena. De Tomas impressed in LaLiga last season, scoring 17 goals in 34 appearances, and he also has greater experience than the teenager from Rennes, who is yet to register a goal or assist at a senior level.
– Marseille president Pablo Longoria has met with William Saliba‘s agent in London, according to Fabrizio Romano. The 21-year-old Arsenal defender spent the last year on loan at the Ligue 1 side, where he was named Young Player of the Year. Following his return to the Emirates, the French side have been looking to sign the defender on a permanent basis. However, Mikel Arteta has recently expressed that he was impressed with Saliba’s preseason performance and will likely offer him regular game time next season.
