Arsenal line up sensational swoop for Chelsea flop as Man City & Liverpool look at £60m midfielder

Welcome to Wednesday’s round-up of the biggest Premier League transfer rumours doing the rounds over the past day or so – and we start with one of the more eye-popping reports we’ve seen in recent weeks, courtesy of Caught Offside, who suggest that Arsenal are lining up a shocking move for Chelsea’s Mykhaylo Mudryk.

It’s shocking, of course, because Mudryk only signed for the Blues a year ago in a deal which could be worth up to €100m (£85.5m), and because he has largely been seen as a flop since signing an eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge.

It’s admittedly slightly less shocking when you recall that Chelsea famously sealed the deal by gazumping Arsenal, who were only a few crossed Ts and dotted Is away from buying the 23-year-old themselves, and also when you remember that Arsenal have some form when it comes to attempting to salvage Chelsea cast-offs – Kai Havertz is at the Emirates, after all. Apparently Juventus could also bid for Mudryk if Chelsea decide to cut their losses.

The 3AM Verdict: One of the primary sources for Caught Offside’s story is Fichajes, who are not historically reliable, and even they don’t seem to be pushing it especially hard as an idea, so our suspicion is that this is pure paper talk. But Arsenal certainly wanted Mudryk before, so perhaps the idea of them rekindling that interest isn’t so far-fetched. Heaven knows what the finances of such a deal would look like.

Man City & Liverpool eyeing Argentine

Another report now from Caught Offside, although this time their source is Mr. Transfer himself, Fabrizio Romano – so perhaps this one stacks up a little more easily. The story is about Porto midfielder Alan Varela, a 22-year-old defensive midfielder who has distinguished himself over the course of the season and who has, apparently, caught the eye of both Manchester City and Liverpool.

Romano is apparently keen to point out that no approaches have yet been made, so this all just scouting at the moment, but he also informs us that the former Boca Juniors man, who only signed for Porto last summer, has a release clause of €70m (£59.9m), which implies that any move for Varela will be far from cheap.

The 3AM Verdict: Varela is an excellent tackler who reads the game well and passes it very neatly, too – he looks, in fact, pretty much tailor-made for the defensive midfielder-shaped hole Liverpool have in their squad. He’d fit in under Pep Guardiola, too, but it’s a little harder to justify signing him when you already have Rodri. Whether it’s a good deal or not will come down to cash - £60m, give or take, is a lot and Varela still has some development to do, so we’d suggest at that price that both teams could do better. He’s still an exciting prospect, however.

Chelsea & City in for Liverpool striker

We’ll spare you the long wait for the punchline on this one – the striker in question is Luciano Rodríguez and he plays for the Liverpool in Uruguay, not the one in Merseyside. Sensationalist, us? Never. Anyway, HITC reckon that the 20-year-old forward, who scored nine goals in the Uruguayan top flight last year, is on the radar of both Manchester City and Chelsea.

Apparently Charlotte FC from the MLS and Feyenoord have both tried and failed with bids, and now the big money is starting to take note of his progress as well – he’s an inside forward who plays on the left and cuts inside, making darting runs and taking defenders on, and has been likened to Marcus Rashford and João Félix. He also has six in six for Uruguay’s Under-23 team, so it looks like at least some of the hype is justified. No price is mentioned.

The 3AM Verdict: The caveat here is that, once you dig down into the report a little, it sounds more like it’s the ownership groups who are interested, rather than the clubs – so he’s maybe more likely to be a target for Girona or Strasbourg rather than City or Chelsea, or at least a player they’d look to buy and loan to a smaller club in the system before putting him into the parent club’s first teams. His scoring record is pretty impressive though, and a lot of people are getting very excited about him, so maybe we’re underselling him here.