Aston Villa lead race for £35m defender as Liverpool receive surprise Leverkusen offer

Welcome to your Wednesday morning round-up of all the biggest and boldest transfer rumours that have been doing the rounds in recent hours – and, of course, our considered verdicts on them. Today, we’ll start in Birmingham, with news that might well prick the ears of a few Aston Villa fans.

According to HITC, Villa have reached a deal in principle to sign Feyenoord and Netherlands right wing-back Lutsharel Geertruida in a move that will cost Unai Emery’s side an estimated €42m (£35.4m) including add-ons. Personal terms, apparently, have already been agreed and the defender is due in England on Wednesday for a medical.

Feyenoord had hoped to sign the 24-year-old to a new deal but apparently multiple teams were interested in signing him – the article speculates that Manchester City and Liverpool may have been involved in the bidding as well.

The 3AM Verdict: This would prove to be a very attacking move by Villa – Geertruida is a proper wing-back who spends a lot more time getting into the final third than he does making tackles and clearances. He’s also a very good player in the Trent Alexander-Arnold mould, and would be a timely arrival given Matty Cash’s recent injury. Assuming HITC are right that this is a done deal, this is a very exciting move.

Liverpool consider Leverkusen offer

Liverpool are contemplating whether to let one of their young midfield talents go over the coming days, after Bayer Leverkusen came in with an unexpected offer to loan Tyler Morton for the 2024/25 season – at least, that’s what The Athletic are telling us.

The 21-year-old is also being courted by Atalanta and RB Leipzig, who are separately considering a loan move for Stefan Bajčetić, who spent most of last season injured after breaking into Liverpool’s first team in the 2022/23 campaign. If Liverpool do allow Morton to leave, it’s “likely” that it will be a straight loan with no buy option.

The 3AM Verdict: As a Blackburn Rovers fan, this pundit has seen plenty of Morton – he spent a season on loan at Ewood Park and frankly, had a lot of developing left to do. He’s got a good touch and his passing range is impressive but he was weak on the ball, poor in one-on-one situations and tried too many killer balls over the top. If he’s improved sufficiently to play Champions League football with the German champions, then all credit to him, but one does wonder whether a player good enough for Leverkusen isn’t just good enough for Liverpool themselves…

Everton in transfer trouble

Everton’s financial problems have been well-documented, as has their unpopular owner Farhad Moshiri’s struggles to sell the club – and now, according to Football Insider, those troubles are going to have an even deeper impact on their transfer business this summer than expected, with potential deals in doubt as a result.

They claim that club sources have told them that Everton can’t spend any more transfer money on permanent deals and that Sean Dyche will be restricted to loan signings, which may scupper their chances of landing a striker or making a deal for Newcastle United full-back Kieran Trippier. Apparently the “cash has dried up” since the arrivals of Jake O’Brien, Iliman Ndiaye and Tim Iroegbunam due to uncertainty over the potential takeover by John Textor.

The 3AM Verdict: Football Insider have a patchy track record with transfer rumours but this is clearly a little different, and in many ways it wouldn’t be a shock if the owners have turned the tap off ahead of a convoluted deal. Textor needs to divest his shares in Crystal Palace if he wants to buy the club and there will be wrangling over a substantial debt owed to 777 Partners, the controversial investment company that tried to buy Everton last year. After two bad defeats to start the season, Everton badly needed some reinforcements – they will look like serious relegation candidates if they can’t get them.