Transfer Talk: Manchester United join Chelsea in race for PSG's Neymar

The transfer window may be closed around Europe, but teams are looking ahead to the summer and there’s plenty of gossip swirling around. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings, goings and, of course, done deals!

TOP STORY: Man Utd join Chelsea in eyeing Neymar

Manchester United are joining Chelsea in keeping an eye on Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar, as has been reported by Foot Mercato.

The 31-year-old is out for the season following an ankle injury in a 4-3 win against Lille in February, which has fueled rumours that his time in Paris might soon be over.

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Chelsea looked into the possibility of a move last summer that didn’t come to fruition, and they have continued to be linked with the Brazilian player in recent months. Sources told ESPN that Chelsea’s new ownership met with PSG officials in February to discuss Neymar’s future.

There was previously a clause activated that keeps Neymar with PSG until 2027, although Les Parisiens are now hoping that he will depart long before that point. Neymar’s salary is one of the reasons PSG want to see him leave, but that same factor also prevents many other clubs from signing him.

One club that could do so is Manchester United, who have reportedly been keeping an eye on him since the beginning of the year.

If they were to make a move, United would need to convince Neymar that Manchester is his best option, as he doesn’t want to leave Paris, then make an offer that satisfies PSG.

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21.45 BST: Barcelona are on the hunt for a left-winger in the summer, with Yannick Carrasco and Abde Ezzalzouli identified as potential options, report Sport. With Ansu Fati heavily linked with a move away from the Nou Camp, it is understood the Catalan club are in the market for left-wing reinforcements. While Carrasco and Abde are viewed as possible signings, the report suggests Xavi is not convinced by the pair.

Abde has struggled on loan at Osasuna, however, the Barcelona hierarchy are reluctant to sell him in the summer in case he impresses elsewhere. Carrasco is seemingly the more favoured option, however the Belgium international has managed just three goals in LaLiga this season, sparking doubts over whether the 29-year-old can cut it at Barcelona.

21.12 BST: Tottenham and Manchester United are interested in AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori, as per CalcioMercato. While the duo are both keen on the three-time capped England international, the report suggests that a deal will be difficult to complete. Milan are in a position of strength having tied Tomori down to a contract until 2027, meaning the Italian giants are under no financial pressure to sell the centre-back in the summer, with Tomori reportedly happy to remain at the San Siro to continue the project under Stefano Pioli.

20.39 BST: Tottenham are preparing a bid for Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha with the Cottagers aware of the growing interest in their talisman, report Football Insider. Palhinha joined the West London outfit last summer, from Sporting CP, and has impressed in his debut Premier League season. However, with the Portugal international under contract at Craven Cottage until 2027, Fulham will be able to demand a hefty fee for the 27-year-old.

The report suggests that alongside Spurs, Premier League rivals Manchester United and Chelsea hold an interest in Palhinha.

20.08 BST: Barcelona are still interested in signing Manchester City right-back Joao Cancelo, according to Mundo Deportivo. The report reveals that signing the Portugal international would allow for Jules Kounde to move into a centre-back role, a position he believed he was going to occupy when signing from Sevilla last July.

Xavi is reportedly keen on Cancelo and with the full-back’s agent Jorge Mendes maintaining a strong relationship with Barcelona president Joan Laporta, the Catalan giants are confident they can land the 28-year-old in the summer.

19.33 BST: Newcastle United are monitoring the situation of Fenerbahce duo Arda Güler and Ferdi Kadıoğlu, according to Ekrem Konur. Güler has impressed in midfield for the Turkish giants this season, with the 18-year-old providing six goals and four assists in all competitions, while right-back Kadıoğlu has been a mainstay for Fenerbahce, featuring 40 times.

19.00 BST: Liverpool will target a new right-back in the summer, following Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s shift to midfield, reports Football Insider. The 24-year-old England international has managed four assists since the positional change, and as a result, Jurgen Klopp is in the market for a new right-back ahead of next season, with Joe Gomez and Calvin Ramsay the only other options in Liverpool’s squad.

18.24 BST: Burnley winger Benson Manuel is attracting the attention of Borussia Dortmund, Marseille and Inter Milan, reports Ekrem Konur. The 26-year-old former Belgium youth international has netted 10 goals for Burnley this season, helping the Clarets to win promotion from the Championship in the process. While Burnley will be braced for bids for their star player, promotion ensures the club will not be forced to into any cut-price deals in the summer.

17:43 BST: Juventus are interested in Bayern Munich full-back Noussair Mazraoui, according to Calciomercato. The 25-year-old Morocco international has fallen down the pecking order at the Bavarian club since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, and the Bianconeri could move for the former Ajax standout as a younger alternative to Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro.

17:00 BST: Everton are among several clubs interested in Sheffield United forward Iliman Ndiaye, reports Fabrizio Romano. The 23-year-old Senegal international has enjoyed a stellar season at Bramall Lane, netting 14 goals, alongside eight assists for the Blades in all competitions, being named in the Championship Team of the Season in the process, and is now set for a big move in the summer, with clubs in Italy also monitoring his situation. Ndiaye is under contract through the 2023-24 season, which could force the South Yorkshire club into allowing their talisman to depart in the summer, to ensure they do not lose him for free next July.

16.13 BST: Real Madrid are hoping to land Atletico Madrid academy star Ariel Nkoghe, this summer, according to Diario AS.

The two Madrid clubs used to have an unwritten agreement that they wouldn’t target each other’s academy prospects, but it ended last year when defender Jesus Fortea, 16, joined Real.

Nkogue has impressed for Atletico’s under-16s at centre-back this season and is a Spain youth international, and having turned 16 in March, he’s now able to sign his first professional contract.

15.27 BST: Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard refused to be drawn on the identity of the club’s next permanent manager as the club narrows their search for Graham Potter’s successor to a three-man shortlist headed by Mauricio Pochettino.

Sources have told ESPN’s Mark Ogden that former Tottenham and PSG boss Pochettino is in advanced talks over taking the job at Stamford Bridge.

“I’m not going to get involved in any future manager talk because it is all speculation, simple as that,” he said.

It was originally anticipated that Lampard would remain in charge until the end of the season regardless of whether Pochettino or another manager is confirmed in the coming weeks.

But asked specifically whether he expected to remain in post until the summer, Lampard defended his record of four consecutive defeats and replied: “I wouldn’t expect anything in football but I think it is very clear that we came into this club when it is in big difficulties.

“We had one day to prepare for Wolves, two games against Real Madrid. The second performance was much better, a proper term performance like I’d want to see.

“In the game in between that against Brighton, we had to change a lot of the squad so there were a lot of factors as to the four games we’ve had since I’ve been working here. The team and the club has been struggling for a while.

“We came in with a view to help and we will keep working to help in the short time – the world won’t change in a short time – but we’ll keep doing our maximum to do that.”

Chelsea are out of all cup competitions and sit 11th in the Premier League but rejected the suggestion the club’s season is over.

“It feels like it with the tone of your question, if I’m honest,” he replied. “If you want to think that, yeah, but I’m the manager of Chelsea. I have a big link to this club, pride and so should the players. If you want to take it down your route, it is over, but for my route it is absolutely not over.”

14.41 BST: Some of the Premier League’s biggest clubs are in the race to sign Hajduk Split’s 16-year-old centre-back Luka Vuskovic, according to the Daily Mail.

The 6-foot-5 defender made his first-team in February, two days after his 16th birthday, and has since started six league matches for his hometown club.

He has also helped Hajduk’s U19 side reach the final of the UEFA Youth League, with plenty of scouts in attendance to watch him in Friday’s 3-1 win over AC Milan. However, they lost Monday’s final 5-0 to Dutch side AZ.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle United are all monitoring Vuskovic, who could be available for a fee of around €15m.

13.54 BST: Barcelona midfielder Gavi has told coach Xavi that he has no intention of leaving the club this summer, despite his ongoing contract situation, according to Sport.

Last month, a court reversed its decision to allow Gavi to be registered as a first-team player at Barcelona because the Catalan club filed their lawsuit late.

Gavi, 18, signed a new contract at Camp Nou in September until 2026 but the LaLiga did not clear the deal because Barca were in excess of their spending limit.

Barca filed a lawsuit against that decision and, on Jan. 31, a court ordered LaLiga to accept Gavi’s registration, with his previous terms due to expire this summer.

The ruling said that a failure to do so “would imply the player’s free agency and therefore cause serious, irreparable damage to Barca.” However, LaLiga said that judgement has now been overturned because Barca missed a deadline, invalidating Gavi’s new contract.

In the worst case scenario, Gavi could technically become a free agent in the summer if there is not a resolution before then. However, sources at Barca told ESPN’s Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens at the time that they do not expect that to happen, and now Sport reports that gavi has given his boss assurances that he will not walk out at the end of the season.

13.06 BST: Sooner rather than later, Real Madrid will have to think about replacing Karim Benzema. Could Chelsea’s Kai Havertz be an unlikely target?

12.32 BST: Tottenham Hotspur would have to give Julian Nagelsmann a decisive say over transfers and let him wait until the summer to take the job if they wanted to appoint him, The Independent reports.

Nagelsmann is available after he was fired by Bayern Munich a month ago and last Friday withdrew from contention to be the next permanent manager of Chelsea.

Tottenham sacked interim boss Cristian Stellini on Monday, the day after they were thrashed 6-1 away to Newcastle United. Stellini took over at Spurs until the end of the season following the departure last month of Antonio Conte, for whom Stellini served as assistant coach. Former Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason has been placed in caretaker charge.

Meanwhile, The Sun reports that another potential recruit for Tottenham, Vincent Kompany, is not available. Kompany has reportedly told his backroom staff that he will remain at the club after securing promotion back up to the Premier League in his first season in charge at Turf Moor.

11.43 BST: Real Betis will face competition from Juventus to bring back Fabian Ruiz this summer, Estadio Deportivo reports.

The Spanish midfielder is expected to be placed on the transfer list by Paris Saint-Germain after just one season in France.

A youth product of Betis, Fabian has made 33 appearances for PSG since joining last summer in a €23m transfer from Napoli.

Since leaving Betis in the summer of 2018 to join Napoli, the 27-year-old has been linked with a return to Seville.

Juve are closely monitoring Fabian’s situation and have reportedly made an approach to sign him this summer.

10.56 BST: Aston Villa coach wants to sign Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, the Daily Mail reports.

Lo Celso, 27, played under Villa boss Unai Emery at Paris Saint-Germain earlier in his career and aagain on loan at Villarreal last season, helping them reach the semifinals of the Champions League.

The Argentina international extended his stay at the Estadio Ceramica for this season, although he missed five months of the campaign due to an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.

Spurs are looking to get Lo Celso off their books this summer as the look to overhaul their squad.

10.19 BST: Brazilian teenage winger Estevao (nicknamed “Messinho”) has signed his first professional contract with Palmeiras.

Estevao has been coveted by a number of European sides, including Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. Estevao, who turned 16 on April 24, has now agreed a three-year contract with the Brazilian Serie A side.

“Today is a very special day in my life,” Estevao said. “I thank Palmeiras, my agents and my family for being by my side. Palmeiras is a giant club which offers the necessary structure for its players and my main objective is to win many titles for the club.”

In 2022, Estevao scored 23 goals and set up eight more in 34 games for Palmeiras’ U17 team.

“Estevao is a talented player, with immense potential and extremely identified as Palmeiras,” Palmeiras president Leila Pereira said. “We offer him all the conditions so that he can continue to develop and give our fans a lot of joy.”

09.27 BST: Mauricio Pochettino is in advanced talks with Chelsea to become manager at Stamford Bridge, replacing interim boss Frank Lampard before the start of next season, a source familiar with the negotiations has told ESPN’s Mark Ogden.

Pochettino, 51, has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season, but the former Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur manager has now emerged as the favoured candidate to take charge at Chelsea.

Sources told ESPN that Chelsea’s plan is to let Lampard see out the season and then hand the reins to Pochettino in the summer, adding that the Argentine coach feels the project at Stamford Bridge suits him because he will be able to build a young team that can play his style of football.

Pochettino would arrive following a lengthy process to identify a successor to Graham Potter, who was fired after just seven months in charge on April 3. Chelsea had drawn up a short list that included as many as seven names to replace Potter, with former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann and Pochettino regarded as initial favourites of the club’s owners, Clearlake Capital.

Nagelsmann subsequently dropped out of the running, sources told ESPN on Friday, while talks with former Barcelona and Spain coach Luis Enrique did not progress beyond exploratory discussions.

Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim and Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti were also considered by Chelsea, but a source has told ESPN that Pochettino is now in detailed discussions about taking over at the club.

08.42 BST: Ben Foster has said he is considering whether to continue his playing career at Wrexham next season — one month after coming out of retirement to help the Hollywood-owned team end a 15-year wait for promotion back to the English Football League (EFL).

The former Manchester United and England goalkeeper, who retired at the end of last season following relegation from the Premier League with Watford, signed a short-term contract with the National League club in March after first and second choice goalkeepers Mark Howard and Rob Lainton were ruled out by injuries.

The 40-year-old has since become a crucial figure in Phil Parkinson’s team, saving a 97th minute penalty in the 3-2 win against closest rivals Notts County last month which put Wrexham on course for promotion as National League champions. And having initially said his return to Wrexham — Foster made his senior debut for the club in 2005 — was a short-term move, Foster said he will now consider whether to continue at the Racecourse Ground next season.

“I haven’t a clue yet [what I will do], I really don’t know,” Foster said. “It’s great to be a man of leisure and freedom and I really enjoyed my time [in retirement]. I had a great time — I really did.

“But what I will say is that I’ve enjoyed this so, so much. This is a special club — Wrexham is a really special club and everybody that plays for it can see it.

“There’s no big-timers. In football there are so many big-timers and there’s none of them in our dressing-room, and that’s the bit of it for me that has made me go: ‘I’ve really enjoyed this so much,’ so I’ll have to think about it. It’s a simple as that.

“You have to. You have to contemplate it, because to be part of this team and Wrexham is a special thing.”

– Ogden: How Hollywood owners guided Wrexham to promotion

08.00 BST: Western United’s Italian superstar Alessandro Diamanti, who helped United to their inaugural ALM title last season, will hang up his boots at the end of this campaign.

The attacking midfielder will call time on a decorated career spanning four countries, 23 years and over 550 professional matches for club and country.

“I am a happy man. I have always tried to be a footballer of the people, for the people. I have always followed the true values of football,” the 39-year-old Diamanti said. “I haven’t been a 100-trophy player, but I have been a player who felt loved, by my loved ones first and by all the thousands of people who have been following me for more than 20 years.”

Diamanti arrived in Australia in 2019, becoming Western United’s inaugural captain. In the club’s first season he won the Johnny Warren Medal, the Alex Tobin Medal and Western United’s player of the season awards. In 81 games in the green and black, Diamanti scored 11 goals and registered 18 assists.

Diamanti began his career at hometown club Prato. He debuted in Serie A with Livorno before also going on play for Bologna, Fiorentina, Atalanta and Palermo in Italy’s top flight. He featured in the Premier League for West Ham United in 2009-10 and spent the 2014 season in China with Guangzhou Evergrande, where he won a league title and gained his first exposure to Australian football as his side met both Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney in their Asian Champions League campaign.

Diamanti became a regular for the Italian national team in the early 2010s, playing 17 times and scoring once against Uruguay at the 2013 Confederations Cup.

PAPER GOSSIP

– Manchester City will compete to sign Napoli centre-back Kim Min-Jae for £40 million, claims the Sun, who add that Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur also are interested in the 26-year-old. In addition, City are said to be interested in RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol.

– Barcelona have made Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the priority in their search for a new No. 9 in the summer transfer window, reports Sky Sports, who add that Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino also is being considered. The Blaugrana are looking at Borussia Monchengladbach‘s Marcus Thuram and Athletico Paranaense‘s Vitor Roque, as well.

– Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea will all send scouts to watch United States men’s national midfielder Yunus Musah during Valencia‘s match against Real Valladolid on Thursday, according to Ekrem Konur. The 20-year-old is expected to play an important role as Valencia try to climb out of the relegation zone in LaLiga.

– Arsenal, Chelsea, PSG, Bayern Munich, AS Roma and Marseille are all interested in signing Wilfried Zaha if the winger leaves Crystal Palace as a free agent this summer, reports The Guardian. Palace are offering the 30-year-old a four-year contract worth over £10 million per season in an effort to keep him, but the Ivory Coast international also wants assurances over the Eagles’ ambition to play in Europe. Zaha is likely to delay his decision until the end of the Premier League season and is expected to turn down an offer from Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad.

– Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea are both interested in signing a player from the other, according to Florian Plettenberg, who suggests that the Blues have internally discussed Swiss keeper Gregor Kobel and made contact with the 25-year-old’s agent. Plettenberg also states that BVB have put midfielder Conor Gallagher on their shortlist with his Chelsea future open, although there have been no concrete talks, and the Blues value the 23-year-old at around €50 million.