The latest Premier League transfer rumours - with news from Aston Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and more.
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It’s time once again for our regular early morning round-up and review of some of the biggest and juiciest new Premier League transfer rumours – and we’re kicking things off today with an intriguing tale for fans of Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
Journalist Fabrice Hawkins has posted on social media to report that both Spurs and Aston Villa are “in talks” with the representatives of Marseille and France midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who has been transfer listed by his club following a dressing room fight.
Having allegedly become involved in an altercation with (now former) team-mate Jonathan Rowe, Marseille have put Rabiot up for sale, with Football Italia separately reporting that they are asking for €15m (£13m) for the 30-year-old’s services.
AC Milan are also interested and in contact with Rabiot’s entourage, but “Marseille has not been contacted” by any of the three interest parties as yet. The midfielder, who has 53 caps for France, spent five years with Juventus before moving to Marseille last summer.
The 3AM Verdict: There’s no doubt about Rabiot’s quality, even if there are plenty of concerns surrounding his temperament, so it’s not exactly shocking to see Premier League teams doing some due diligence ahead of making a bid. Rabiot always waves a few red flags, so we wouldn’t be shocked if either Spurs or Villa backed off, but this is a budget-friendly deal that carries high reward with the risk.
£60m star ‘tempted’ by Chelsea move after change of heart
Some encouraging news for Chelsea fans, next, courtesy of Sport Witness, who cite reports from Spain in claiming that Barcelona midfielder Fermín López is now “tempted” to join the Premier League side and is “no longer flatly refusing” to contemplate a departure from the Camp Nou, having previously been reported to have been keen to stay put.
While it’s not suggested that the 22-year-old is necessarily going to force his way out of his current club, he is said to be “serious” about a move to Stamford Bridge and is “attracted” to Chelsea, especially as they will apparently offer a significant increase in his salary.
Separately, TNT Sport report that Barcelona have set an asking price of €70m (£60m) for López, who has emerged as a significant transfer target for Chelsea over the past few days. Neither report suggests that a formal offer has yet been made, or makes any claims as to whether Chelsea are prepared to meet that price.
The 3AM Verdict: We suspect Chelsea want to pay less than that, and negotiations will be complicated. Barcelona don’t want to sell López, per se, but are perennially in need of fresh funding and have a bit of a glut of talent in midfield. This has the hallmarks of a deal that will take until deadline day to be done, one way or the other.
Nottingham Forest make ‘contact’ over Dutch star
Let’s round today’s digest off with a story from Fabrizio Romano, who reckons that Nottingham Forest have “made club to club contact” with RB Leipzig over a potential deal for 17-cap Netherlands international full-back Lutsharel Geertruida.
The 25-year-old, who only moved to Leipzig last summer in a deal worth just over £17m, becomes the latest right-back linked with a move to the City Ground and while Romano doesn’t know what the transfer fee might be, he does believe that “talks [are] underway”.
Elsewhere, he also claims that Forest have rejected West Ham United’s loan bid for Ibrahima Sangaré. They’ll only sanction a loan deal with an obligation to buy, it’s claimed, and the Hammers only made an offer which included an option.
The 3AM Verdict: The Sangaré deal still could go through, although with West Ham simultaneously negotiating over several different midfielders it’s very hard to get a clear picture of the likely outcome. As for Geertruida, it would be an exciting signing, but it’s hard to say how likely a move might be with none of the financial details.