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Manchester United exploring alternatives to Bayern-bound Kim Min-jae
The expectation is that Kim Min-jae will join Bayern from Napoli. The German champions are moving fast to finalise personal terms on a five-year contract.
The aim is to be ready to trigger Kim’s €47m release clause, which is only active in the first two weeks of July. There’s around €15m in agent fees on the deal, too, which put off some suitors.
Manchester United never had a done deal with Kim and could now turn their attention to Monaco’s Axel Disasi, who is open to the move. Monaco are asking for €50m, and if Manchester United proceed they’ll hope for a lower fee.
The club have also scouted Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, who is likely to be available for around €30m. Nothing is advanced at this point.
There was interest in Jurrien Timber last summer when Erik ten Hag looked to raid his former club Ajax for him and Lisandro Martinez, but, as has been widely reported, he’s now a top target for Arsenal – more on that from Fabrizio Romano in his column here.
PSG sounded out Mikel Arteta but Arsenal want him to sign new deal
It’s perhaps no surprise that Luis Campos sounded out Mikel Arteta, especially with PSG being one of the Arsenal boss’ former clubs. But it was nothing more than that. Arteta has no interest in leaving Arsenal at this point. And PSG are advancing now with Luis Enrique who is expected to become their new manager.
Although Arsenal couldn’t hang on and win the Premier League, qualifying for the Champions League is going to allow for a healthy summer spend. Arteta has also been vital in extending the contracts of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba to name but three. As previously revealed, Arsenal had high confidence on all of those extensions, and Saliba, who has agreed terms now, will be finalised and announced soon.
Arteta is not even considering another job. He’s got everything he needs at Arsenal. His current contract, which he signed towards the end of last season, runs until June 2025. This means there’s plenty of time still. Arsenal do want Arteta to extend again and although nothing is close currently there’s also no fears another club will poach him.
Spurs won’t be able to low-ball Leicester for James Maddison and Harvey Barnes
Although Spurs are interested in both James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, I am not aware of a double bid despite reports. Leicester will treat any offers separately and if Spurs did move for both they would need a minimum of £80m, and perhaps even more.
Even after going down Leicester are in no mood to give any suitor a cut-price deal. They want £55m for Maddison. Newcastle will move, as revealed weeks ago, but they are expected to come in closer to the £40m they offered last summer. Spurs also see Maddison as a top target as well.
Barnes had a wonderful season for Leicester despite being relegated, scoring 13 Premier League goals. Spurs and West Ham are ones to watch. I would keep an eye on Villa, too, where Barnes’ ex-Leicester teammate Youri Tielemans moved to recently on a free transfer.
Arsenal haven’t joined the race yet, but it’s probably fair to say they are monitoring the situation. But their priority is to get Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber done. Success for all three would see them spend close to £200m.
With Rice, it’s true that Manchester City could join the race. But as things stand, Rice wants the Arsenal move. West Ham are insisting on £100m+. But Arsenal’s starting point, as reported many times, is to try and get the deal done for under £100m.
Arsenal’s second bid is for £75m with £15m in add ons. It has been rejected, but is nonetheless edging closer to West Ham’s valuation. Arsenal are likely going to have to offer a higher guaranteed fee (closer to £85m) and provide a stronger structure, including gettable add ons. Rice, Arsenal and West Ham do want a deal done quickly though. The Hammers will want to move in the market themselves.
Saudi clubs targeting 20 elite signings
All kinds of star names are being linked to the Saudi Pro League and there are over 20 active talks with European players by Saudi dealmakers.
At the time of writing, Hakim Ziyech (Al-Nassr), Kalidou Koulibaly (Al-Hilal) and Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahli) are closing in on transfers. And N’Golo Kante has already signed for Al-Ittihad. Chelsea will be delighted to get so many outgoings done early, although I don’t any of the fees will be crazy. The expectation is Chelsea will make a loss on the players.
William Carvalho to Al-Nassr is also looking likely and Ruben Neves will join Al-Hilal in a deal worth €55m. This is a huge coup for the league because he’s only 26 and spoke of wanting to leave Wolves for Champions League football.
Bernardo Silva is a concrete target, but it is not thought he wants to leave Europe just yet. And there is low confidence Son Heung-min will move in 2023 to Al-Ittihad. Son is a genuine target, but Spurs don’t want to sell. It’s likely one to watch in 2024 unless anything dramatic changes.
Saudi dealmakers also recently travelled to Paris to explore a deal for Neymar but he also prefers to stay in Europe. It will be interesting to see if Enrique’s expected arrival at the Parc des Princes impacts Neymar’s future. PSG are very open to a sale, but Enrique may have other ideas.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF, who also own Newcastle, control four of the biggest clubs: Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad and are the dealmakers for many major transfers. They want around 20 elite names and over 50 signings in total. The aim is to create rivalries in Riyadh and Jeddah with global appeal. And next season English-speaking TV rights will be sold.
Of course, Clubs can still make their own signings, but PIF help drive many of the important ones and often pick the final destination providing there is player buy in.
The Saudis have agents on the case focused on all the big leagues. This is quite atypical and sometimes means player agents are aware of deals a bit later because the clubs are being approached first. This tactic allows dealmakers to go for multiple players hence why so many Chelsea stars can be targeted in one swoop, even though they are all off to different clubs.