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Gravenberch open to Liverpool move after Caicedo and Lavia drama
Chelsea have signed Moises Caicedo for a £100+15m package from Brighton and in doing so landed their top summer target.
It was an incredible saga. Liverpool tried to hijack the deal, successfully bidding £111m, but Caicedo made it clear he wanted to wait for Chelsea, who reached an agreement over the weekend.
Liverpool did all they could, but when a player has their heart set on one club it’s hard to change their mind. There has been a feeling all summer that Chelsea would eventually pay what it takes having had multiple bids for Caicedo rejected.
There is no doubt Chelsea felt somewhere around £80m was doable at the beginning of the window, but Brighton not only got their price, but around £10m more than they might have accepted earlier in the window. That’s because of the bidding war. It’s a fantastic bit of business for them when you consider they paid around £4m for Caicedo.
Chelsea’s sporting director Paul Winstanley has a long-standing relationship with Caicedo, and that helped, and Behdad Eghbali played a key role. He flew in for final negotiations to ensure the deal got over the line.
Chelsea are also on the brink of signing Romeo Lavia from Southampton, another Liverpool target.
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As a result I expect Liverpool to be busy between now and when the window shuts. Real Madrid don’t want to sell Aurelien Tchouameni, and the player doesn’t want to leave, so I don’t see too much substance in those links.
Andre is another possibility at Fluminense, but the Brazilian club have always hoped to keep hold of him until 2024.
Ryan Gravenberch at Bayern is a long-standing target as well. The player is open to the move. It’s just a case of whether Bayern will sell.
Chelsea have their new no.1 but want a backup ‘keeper
Mauricio Pochettino admitted Kepa just got an opportunity he couldn’t turn down and that’s why Chelsea agreed to his season-long loan to Real Madrid following Thibaut Courtois ACL injury.
The Chelsea boss was happy to have Kepa and new signing Robert Sanchez compete for the top spot. Kepa would have probably started against Liverpool as well had Real not come calling simply because he’d been with the squad for longer than Sanchez.
Sanchez is now No.1. And Chelsea will be looking for a back-up keeper. Clearly if they can find someone to offer strong competition that’s a bonus, but Sanchez has been informed he will be the first choice this season.
Chelsea are not considering Nice’s Kasper Schmeichel despite links. Newcastle have also indicated they want to keep hold of Martin Dubravka, who was on the bench against Aston Villa.
With Kepa just a loan, and Gaga Slonina highly rated, Chelsea need to find the right fit and character since game time for whoever comes in is likely to be limited.
The truth about Harry Kane transfer fee and rumoured cold feet late on
Just before Harry Kane left for Bayern Munich there was talk he was leaning towards staying at Spurs. I think that came from Kane wanting to resolve his future before the Premier League started and time running out.
But as Daniel Levy has revealed now, Kane made it clear he wanted a new challenge, and that’s consistent with Bayern saying pretty publicly throughout the saga he wanted to join.
In the end, dealing with Levy was perhaps not as painful as Bayern had anticipated. Levy played a few games, delaying a key meeting and withholding Kane’s permission to fly on the morning of his move. But Spurs were put in a weaker position by the fact Kane wanted to leave, and with his contract running down it made sense to sell.
That said, Levy still got a great deal. Although there are some reports of the total package being around £100m, with add-ons included, I am told it’s actually slightly higher.
Spurs must now find a replacement. Talk of that being Romelu Lukaku has been dismissed.
Before Fabio Paratici left Spurs, the most likely target if Kane left was Lille’s Jonathan David. An approach still can’t be ruled out. Spurs also like Lautaro Martinez, but Inter simply don’t want to sell.
There was never any substance in a swap deal between Kylian Mbappe and Kane prior to the England striker’s move to Bayern. PSG did explore Kane, though, but they knew he preferred Bayern.
Neymar to leave PSG, but what next for Kylian Mbappe?
Kylian Mbappe looks set to stay at PSG and has been brought back into the main squad. It follows his exclusion from PSG’s summer tour of Japan and South Korea. Mbappe also wasn’t part of the opening 0-0 home draw with Lorient.
PSG made it clear if Mbappe didn’t extend that he’s for sale this summer because they don’t want to lose him on a free. PSG have been adamant Mbappe has a secret pre-deal agreed with Real agreed for much of the summer, yet now they are suddenly optimistic a solution can be found to allow Mbappe to go to Real next summer and still get a fee.
Various extension structures are being considered right now, including one option with a clause guaranteeing Mbappe can leave next summer. And PSG are even considering one extension offer that will see Mbappe stay longer than 2025.
The original one-year extension clause on Mbappe’s current deal has expired, which only the player could trigger, but the terms of it could also be revisited. The situation is fluid, but suddenly PSG are committed to Mbappe and Mbappe to PSG.
Meanwhile, Neymar is off to Al-Hilal. I exclusively revealed he was a target in June, and although back then Neymar still wanted to explore options, Al-Hilal never gave up. Neymar was the first name they turned to after missing out on Lionel Messi. Neymar will sign a two-year deal and PSG will receive over €90m.