Manchester United ready bold transfer bit for £38m wonderkid as Chelsea prepare to axe two more players

Welcome to Tuesday’s round-up of the biggest and boldest Premier League transfer rumours currently doing the media rounds, and we’ll start by saying that we know what you’re thinking – isn’t the transfer window closed? How can there possibly be any more damned rumours?

The answer, of course, is that there are still loads of rumours, partly because the rumour mill is immortal and will cease its eternal churning for no man, but also because several countries’ windows are still very much open, and those countries contain clubs that want to sign some players from England. In particular, players from Chelsea.

For starters, keen observers of goings-on at Stamford Bridge will have noted that the club made a public fuss of exiling Ben Chilwell from the first team only to fail to sell him, but that problem could be solved by Ajax, according to HITC, who claim that the Dutch club are interested in taking the former Leicester City left-back on loan.

Fenerbahçe are also in the mix, apparently, with both clubs still able to dip into the transfer market quite cheerfully. Apparently the Turkish side see the England international as the ideal replacement for Ferdi Kadioğlu, who has since joined Brighton & Hove Albion. Elsewhere, Fabrizio Romano has given a cheery ‘here we go’ to news that Brazilian forward Ângelo, who signed last year for around £13m and didn’t really trouble the first team, will be signing for Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr for a package worth €23m (£19.4m).

The 3AM Verdict: We forgive any Chelsea fan who forgot about Ângelo and if the club bank a profit on his signing then they’ve done rather well under the circumstances – and it’s fair to observe that for all the controversy and occasional absurdity of their transfer dealings, Chelsea’s net spend this summer has been relatively small. That doesn’t excuse taking a capable player like Chilwell and chucking him out of the team while making absolutely no money, however, but we have no trouble believing that a side like Ajax would have a go or that Chelsea would be forced to accept paying most of his wages, much as they were with Raheem Sterling. That’s definitely poor business, given that Chilwell cost £45m not long ago.

Chelsea’s sensational target

Sticking with doings at Stamford Bridge for a little longer, we also have a rumour about a player they want to sign – although clearly not until January at the earliest. Spanish outlet Fichajes claim that Chelsea are in the market for Lille striker Edon Zhegrova (one of the “sensations of Ligue 1”, apparently).

No financial details are mentioned but the Kosovan striker, who scored 12 goals in 47 games last season, is under contract until 2026, which the article reckons may force Lille to sell sooner rather than later in order to get some financial value out of him, even though they would “prefer to keep the star.”

The 3AM Verdict: The great thing about Chelsea rumours is that you can print a link to anyone and it will sound plausible enough, or at least as plausible as signing João Félix, Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto at the same time. The 25-year-old Zhegrova, for what it’s worth, is quick, great at finding space and a fine dribbler without being a huge scorer or provider of goals. Who knows if there’s any truth in the story.

Man Utd’s teen dream

For our last rumour of the day, we’ll give the floor to TeamTalk, who reckon that Manchester United’s veteran midfielder Christian Eriksen could still leave this summer – and that the Red Devils have a wonderkid lined up to be his long-term heir.

Eriksen, for his part, was the subject of interest from Real Betis in Spain but with that possibility out of the window, his best hope of a move seems to be Belgian side Anderlecht, who have until Friday to thrash out a deal. It would involve a big salary sacrifice from the 32-year-old Dane but United could let him go for free and with a golden goodbye to ease the process along.

As for his replacement, apparently United lead both Real Madrid and Barcelona in the race for River Plate starlet Franco Mastantuono, a 17-year-old attacking midfielder who has 11 appearance for the Argentine side’s senior team. He is being “heralded as a future great”, it seems, and could cost as much as €45m (£37.9m). Apparently United have made an enquiry ahead of the January transfer window, with Spanish outlet Marca cited as the source of the story.

The 3AM Verdict: United gave Aaron Wan-Bissaka a pay-off to move him along this summer, so they’re not beyond doing the same for Eriksen, whose chances of regular football seem slim. And Mastantuono will generate a huge bidding war at some point, and there’s no particular reason United shouldn’t be in it – but beating Real Madrid out won’t be easy. Barcelona don’t have the money, quite frankly.