Chelsea ‘working on’ massive £68m transfer as Bournemouth aim to beat Juventus to star midfielder

Saturday is finally here, and as always 3 Added Minutes are here too to keep you up-to-date with all the juiciest new Premier League transfer rumours – and today, we’ll kick things off with a story which sees Chelsea gearing up for yet another spending spree.

Caught Offside claim that Chelea’s bosses are “working on” the fine details of a proposed €80m (£68.3m) transfer package for Juventus’ versatile young forward Kenan Yildiz, who has been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge on a regular basis over the past few months.

The 19-year-old Turkey international, who can play on either wing or through the middle as a number ten, has scored eight goals in 45 matches for the Old Lady this season and has drawn rave reviews for his creative, well-rounded and technical style of football.

The report claims that Juventus are “unlikely” to let a major talent leave but the financial imbalance between the Premier League and Serie A usually means that arms can be twisted in these instances. Just one problem – the primary source for this story’s details is Spanish website Fichajes, who can’t be described as the world’s most reliable source of transfer rumours.

The 3AM Verdict: Chelsea have been linked with Yildiz enough times that we believe there’s interest, but we doubt a transfer offer is imminent or that details have been ironed out. Admittedly, we only doubt that because we automatically assume that any story that started with Fichajes is wrong, but we suppose that they’re bound to be right about something. Eventually. Stopped clocks, and all that.

Bournemouth take aim at Juventus and Napoli target

Bournemouth’s recent success in the Premier League seems to have encouraged them to aim high in this summer’s transfer market, judging by the contents of a new Sport Witness report – sources in Italy suggest that the Cherries are ready to battle with Napoli and Juventus for the signature of Ukrainian midfielder Georgiy Sudakov.

Andoni Iraola’s side have “joined the race” for the 22-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder, who was heavily linked with a move to Chelsea last summer. Already a regular with his national side, Sudakov has bagged 12 goals in 29 games for his club so far this season.

This specific report only mentions Napoli’s interest, but stories from Football Italia (and others) also allege that Juventus have just made a bid for Sudakov’s services. That second report also claims that the asking price will be around €60m (£51.2m).

The 3AM Verdict: If Juventus and Napoli really are making moves, then Bournemouth probably won’t win that battle – they’re a rising force in English football, but there’s only so much clout you can acquire in a short space of time. An exciting player to target, though, by any standards.

Two more Liverpool stars could leave this summer

Liverpool may have nailed down new contracts for Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk - and are supposedly doing their best to convince Trent Alexander-Arnold to stay – but there are others who could be on their way out an Anfield, according to new stories from TeamTalk.

New information from the report includes the claim that the club are planning to hold contract talks with Ibrahima Konaté, who is the subject of interest from PSG. Konaté’s contract is up in 2026, so there’s some urgency in that situation – and there has been “no breakthrough” as yet.

Should the club lose Konaté then they hold “concrete interest” in Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen, but they’re hardly alone in that. Further details include the claim that Luis Díaz could be the subject of a “big-money” bid from Saudi Arabia, while a separate report suggests that striker Darwin Núñez is “open” to moving to the Pro League as well.

The 3AM Verdict: We suspect that Konaté stays put this summer, largely because Liverpool have plenty of money they need to spend elsewhere on the pitch, but stories suggesting that Darwin and Díaz could leave have certainly been persistent. Don’t be surprised if both depart soon.