✅ It is TRUE: Brighton are in the lead for Said El Mala. But it could be that other interested clubs still have a chance in this race, like Newcastle and Chelsea. That’s because the Brighton offer was about €35m plus €4m in add-ons, and Cologne want €50m. If they don’t get this money, perhaps they’ll be open to talking with Chelsea again. This could happen. At the moment, the way is clear – El Mala looks very likely to be playing Premier League football next season. Now we have to see whether he ends up at Brighton, which is the current plan, or if FC Köln say it won’t work because of the money on the table.
“Sarr’s value is growing and there’s a real possibility of him moving on this summer whether they go down or not. Real Madrid, PSG, and Bayern Munich are all big fans of the player, and offers of around £50m would probably be enough,” another added.
Tottenham are facing an increasingly real threat of relegation this season and that’s inevitably started to lead to serious behind-the-scenes conversations about players who could be snapped up by bigger clubs this summer.
While there are clearly a lot of players in this squad that have under-performed, there is also some appreciation for a few of their younger talents who could still go on to improve a lot in the right conditions, so that creates the potential for one or two major summer transfer sagas in the months ahead.
One name being mentioned a lot is Pape Matar Sarr, with several of my sources in the industry telling me that Spurs are aware of growing interest in the 23-year-old from some of Europe’s elite clubs.
“Spurs insist Sarr is not for sale, but privately they know that big clubs are going to come calling, and some may already have done so,” one source said.
❌ It is NOT TRUE: Brighton are considering a move for Manuel Neuer if he leaves Bayern this summer. The German will decide whether he stays for another year in Munich or quits at the end of the season. I spoke with him after the match against Real. He wants to make a decision in the relatively near future. The game itself was really tough for him. The first two goals from Real were, I’m afraid to say, two mistakes from Manuel Neuer. But the match before he was brilliant, and he was good in the second half of the second leg in Munich. I think he’s still having fun, and I heard that if he’s still enjoying himself, he’ll want to do another year at Bayern. We have to see! He’s set to become a father again; his wife’s pregnant with his second child. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t want to play the World Cup. Perhaps he wants to be a family guy. But I think, as we saw yesterday in the match against Real Madrid, Neuer’s having so much fun that he could very well play one more year.