Arsenal 'discuss' signing bold £60m Eze transfer alternative as Tottenham battle to get West Ham deal done

Several huge deals are currently brewing nicely right across the Premier League, and we’re here with our latest round-up of all the biggest new transfer rumours to help you keep up with all the negotiations – starting, today, with Arsenal.

GiveMeSport build on a report from L’Equipe in claiming that Arsenal have “discussed” a potential move for AS Monaco right winger Maghnes Akliouche, and have held talks with the player’s agent.

Any deal for Akliouche would likely be at the expense of a bid for Eberechi Eze, widely reported as being the subject of interest from the Gunners. There won’t be much difference in price, though, with Monaco said to be holding out for €70m (£60m) for a players still tied to a long-term contract.

Making life a little easier is the fact that the 23-year-old Akliouche, who was a member of France’s Olympic squad in 2024, shares an agent with Viktor Gyökeres. The ongoing negotiations for the Swedish striker could help to smooth the path to a deal for the Monaco man as well.

The 3AM Verdict: Shared agents probably helps transfers along somewhat, but it doesn’t mean that Arsenal will pay over the odds. The reporting also mentions Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman as a cheaper alternative, a name we’ve seen come up a few times lately, and perhaps one we think is more likely than Akliouche. We suspect that Rodrygo and Eberechi Eze are the real targets for now and suspect that the Monaco man’s name is just being thrown in through inference. Unlikely, in our view.

Spurs face uphill struggle to seal Mohammed Kudus deal

Over to Football Insider now, who allege that they have some updates on Tottenham Hotspur’s efforts to sign West Ham winger Mohammed Kudus – and it doesn’t sound like it’s quite all going to plan.

A first bid of £50m plus an extra £5m in add-ons has supposedly been “rejected”, according to Football Insider’s sources, with West Ham insistent that it fell short of their valuation. The report doesn’t say suggest precisely what the asking price is, only stating that it’s below £80m, which is suitably vague.

West Ham are “reluctantly prepared” to let Kudus leave, which is good news for Spurs, but the bad news doesn’t stop at the transfer fee – “a number of Premier League teams” are said to be keen on the Ghana international, with Newcastle United and Chelsea both suggested as potential destinations.

The 3AM Verdict: We’ve heard nothing to make us believe that any other Premier League teams are serious about a move for Kudus right now, although there is interest from Saudi Arabia which could prove to be a disrupting factor. If Spurs did bid £55m, they also did so knowing fine well it wouldn’t be accepted. We suspect that things are going more smoothly behind the scenes than this article suggests.

Aston Villa & Bournemouth enter battle for in-demand defender

We’ll wrap things up today with a story from Sport Witness, who comment on reports which suggest that Aston Villa and Bournemouth have become the latest clubs to throw their hat into the ring for Argentine defender Kevin Lomónaco, who plays in his homeland for Independiente.

Right now, just about half of the teams in Europe have been connected with him at some point or another (ranging from West Ham to Barcelona) but both Villa and the Cherries have joined the battle “in the last few hours”, an unusually tightly-timed claim for so early in the window.

We do at least know how much Lomónaco, who was previously suspended and fined for his role in a spot fixing scandal in Brazil, will cost – his release clause is €17m (£14.7m) and Independiente expect it to be paid in full.

The 3AM Verdict: Lomónaco’s name has been thrown around all over the place of late, and this article brings Aston Villa and Bournemouth into the frame in the context of a bid from Real Oviedo. It’s clear that there’s a lot of tentative interest, but figuring out where he’ll actually go – and whether the report about Villa or Bournemouth’s interest is accurate or not – is impossible right now. There are a lot of sharks circling, but we’re waiting for one of them to bite.