The latest Premier League transfer rumours, with news from Chelsea, Spurs, Leeds and more.
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It’s time for 3 Added Minutes’ regular morning round-up and review of the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours – and today, we’re kicking things off with a story which should be of interest to Chelsea supporters.
According to Caught Offside, the Blues are “expected” to make a move for Como’s impressive young midfielder Nico Paz, having decided that they are “keen” on the 21-year-old and “ready to push for his signature.”
Standing in the way are not only Como, who are said to value the Argentina international at €80m (£70m), but his former side Real Madrid. The Spanish giants have a buyback clause which they “plan” to activate next summer.
Real are reportedly “confident” that they’ll be in position to bring Paz back to the Bernabeu, but apparently Chelsea “love” the youngster enough to make a run at him regardless. There’s no word on Paz’s own preferred destination,
The 3AM Verdict: Paz is precisely the sort of play that Chelsea fall in love with these days, so it’s certainly a plausible story, but Real do appear to be his most likely destination a year in advance of any negotiations. Tottenham Hotspur were very interested before settling for Xavi Simons as well.
Spurs interested in £52.5m striker who played against them in Europe
Speaking of Spurs, Spanish outlet Fichajes have a bold claim to make about their transfer business – apparently, they will “closely monitor” the performances of Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze as they “prepare” a bid worth up to €60m (£52.5m).
That’s double what his current club Villarreal – who Spurs recently played in the Champions League – paid for Mikautadze just this summer when they bought him from Lyon, but despite the fact that the 24-year-old has only just arrived in Spain, Spurs have seemingly not been dissuaded from keeping an eye on things.
Mikautadze’s own thought on the matter are unrecorded, perhaps unsurprisingly, but apparent Spurs see him as “an ideal fit” for their attacking system. Which makes one wonder why they didn’t buy him in the summer, then…
The 3AM Verdict: The simplest answer to that question, of course, is that they aren’t as interested as this article makes out. This is a highly speculative piece looking at a deal for a player who’s barely got his feet under the table at a new club. We doubt there’s much to read into here, sadly.
Leeds linked with attacking midfielder
Finally for today’s column, a story from TeamTalk which suggests that Leeds United are “hoping to find an upgrade” at the number ten spot – and are now “in the mix” for AS Roma and Italy midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini as a result.
Pellegrini’s stock has dropped in the last season or two and his current club tried to sell him over the summer, only to fail to do so – but he’ll now be out of contract at the end of the season and could leave for free, with Roma having “made it clear” that they won’t renew a deal with a high salary attached to it.
Leeds have now added Pellegrini to their shortlist for 2026 along with Inter Milan’s Piotr Zieliński. The TeamTalk report does note that the primary source for their reporting, AS Roma Live, isn’t proven to be especially reliable, and advises Leeds fans to take things with a pinch of salt.
The 3AM Verdict: We’ll offer the same advice, but this isn’t an especially implausible rumour so long as Leeds stay in the Premier League. Pellegrini is likely to have plenty of options next season but the very biggest teams are relatively unlikely to make a move for him unless he has a big comeback season in Rome. A side like Leeds may be about right.