Having already signed Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free transfer Arsenal are now close to finalising deals for both Sokratis Papastathopoulos and, as we mentioned yesterday, Lucas Torreira.
Next up will probably be a goalkeeper to replace Petr Cech who will be 36 next month.
The favourite is the German, Bernd Leno, of Bayer Leverkusen. He will cost around £20 million and would be available as soon as required as he has been left out of the Germany World Cup squad, an indicator of the market in which Arsenal are now forced to conduct business.
Hopefully the blond German who isn’t considered good enough for his country will be an improvement on another blond German who isn’t considered good enough for Liverpool, or anybody else for that matter!
Another challenge for new manager Unai Emery is that, if he manages to get all of the aforementioned players, he will be under a little pressure to relieve some of the outlay by selling players.
Chelsea…..
The only murmurings coming out of Stamford Bridge at the moment involve N’Golo Kanté. Apparently, not only is he wanted by PSG but Real Madrid have also expressed an interest in signing the player.
How much substance there is to this rumour though is debatable as the Spanish club have only just announced Julen Lopetegui as their new manager. Given that he is just leaving Russia having been sacked from his job as the Spanish national team coach, it would seem a little premature to think that he has already handed in a wishlist of players to his new club.
N’Golo Kanté – Could he be on his way to Paris or Madrid?
This is another where we expect the player to remain at his current club next season.
Chelsea, of course, also still need to sort out their managerial situation and it is now approaching “matter-of-urgency” status.
Manchester United…..
José Mourinho is very keen to sign Gareth Bale. That is according to assorted press reports, not to the man himself!
He has, according to those same reports, told Bale that if he joins United he will win the Ballon D’Or. We can only assume that he has also explained to the Welshman why he wouldn’t win that prize if he went anywhere else!
Other than that snippet of useless information nothing is expected to happen at Old Trafford before the World Cup begins. United have signed Diogo Darlot and the unannounced Fred and we will probably have to wait a month or so before they make a third signing.
Manchester City…..
CalcioNapoli24, (click the link only if you understand Italian), reckon that a deal for Jorginho to join Manchester City could be concluded in the next 72 hours. This is a transfer not affected by the World Cup because, of course, the player is an Italian international and he and his international team mates will be watching the tournament on TV having failed to qualify.
City’s other well-publicised signing is now very unlikely to happen before the World Cup as no agreement is in place with Leicester City yet for Riyad Mahrez.
This is all the news that is news at the moment and the other two members of the top six are both staying remarkably quiet.
Jorginho – The Italian is, apparently, “desperate” to sit on the bench at City!
Liverpool are still in desperate need of a goalkeeper and are still dragging their feet on the issue. No worries, it has been a problem position since before Jürgen Klopp arrived, but he doesn’t appear to treat it as so! So maybe there isn’t really a problem at all!
Tottenham, as we have already reported, are waiting to see how much “spends” Dastardly Dan is going to allow Mauricio Pochettino to have for his summer holiday blowout!
And finally…..
Julen Lopetegui leaves Spain two days before the World Cup begins in Russia. He leaves with an impressive record of having played 20 games, won 14, drawn 6, lost 0. Not bad for a little-known manager, as he was when he took the job.
Real Madrid do know him as he was with them as the manager of their B team for a year in 2008 and he has obviously impressed them with his recent stint as manager of the national team.
He leaves with the thanks of the players and the rebuke of the Spanish FA’s president, Luis Rubiales, for failing to let him know of his decision to join Real Madrid after the World Cup. Thanks to this oversight, he is now free to join Real Madrid BEFORE the World Cup, although he is very unlikely to do so.
Albert Cacedes will probably replace Lopetegui as the Spain manager in a reasonably quick announcement which suggests that the Lopetegui dismissal wasn’t quite the surprise to the Spanish FA as everybody thinks it was.
However, Fernando Hierro, the current sporting director, will take charge for the World Cup.
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