Mitrovic keen on Saudi transfer despite offer being “dismissed” as Sheffield United star nears French move

Having just yesterday exposed the conspiracy behind Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s fictitious move to Al-Hilal – he doesn’t exist, by the way, the evidence is all there, honest – the Saudi club have now tried to deflect attention by buying an actual real-life Serbian footballer.

Fulham’s Aleksandr Mitrović has been the subject of a £25m bid, which falls well below the threshold required for the London club to be able “laugh off” the offer. According to the BBC, club sources say that the offer was “dismissed out of hand” (the other acceptable way to instantly reject a bid in the standardised lexicon of the transfer window) but there’s even indication that the Saudis will be back with a bigger number, at least unless they get distracted by another shiny object in the meantime.

The 28-year-old striker is, unfortunately for Fulham, distinctly keen on the move and for some bizarre reason would rather spend his time lying on a gigantic bed of cash sipping overpriced champagne than providing good value returns for Fantasy Premier League players, so expect the Serbian to push for the move if he thinks that he can. He’s contracted until 2026, mind you, so he may not have as much leverage as he wants.

The 3AM Verdict: Another Premier League player in their prime who’s had their had turned by a colossal wad of money, sadly. I mean, they’ve already got colossal wads of money, obviously, but had their head turned even more, like some sort of footballing owl. Anyway, Fulham will rightly want an awful lot more than £25m given how hard it is to find a reliable number nine without breaking the bank these days, so we don’t blame them for having a hearty chuckle when that offer came in with all the fiscal gravitas of Dr. Evil demanding one million dollars.

Ndiaye will always love vous

Over in Yorkshire, there is some substantially worse news for Sheffield United – the newly-promoted side may be set to lose their own star striker, Iliman Ndiaye. The 23-year-old Senegalese international was worth 14 goals in the Championship last season but is the subject of interest from Marseille, with the two clubs “continuing to talk” over a fee, according to Sport Witness.

Ndiaye, who was born in France, spent four years at Marseille as a boy and is apparently extremely keen to return to his childhood club, which could leave the Blades in the lurch for a forward for the new campaign. Sacre bleu, as the French would say – what a Yorkshireman would say is definitely not fit to print.

The 3AM Verdict: Ndiaye is a crucial attacking outlet for Sheffield United, so they’ll want a good fee – but unlike Fulham, it’s the player who has the upper hand here. He only has one year left on his contract, and Marseille don’t quite have the same sort of spending power as the Saudis. The Blades have at least offered him a new deal (according to The Irish News, of all places), so perhaps there’s some hope that they can keep hold of their best forward, but if not then they’ll need to get the scouts working overtime to find someone with the goals to keep them in the top flight.

City starlet staying put

Finally, word on another star of Sheffield United’s promotion season – James McAtee, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder who played a pivotal role while on loan from Manchester City last year.

We want your feedback on 3 Added Minutes - details here

The Manchester Evening News report that McAtee has been the subject of several bids (from frustratingly unnamed clubs) with some reaching as high as £30m. Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola has plans for his inclusion in the first-team and he’s jetting off on a global pre-season tour rather than hanging around in a distinctly damp Salford hashing out contract details with Everton or someone. Probably not Everton, we’re just spitballing, but somehow it would feel right, wouldn’t it?

The 3AM Verdict: Clearly we can’t really comment on whether any of these deals would work for the player, given that we have no clue where he’d be going – but for the club to turn down £30m shows some serious faith, because with the best will in the world he isn’t worth that much just yet. Clearly Guardiola reckons he’ll be worth a lot more in the near future however, so it doesn’t look like he’ll be going anywhere. Besides, what are City going to do if it ends up looking like they wasted £30m in a few years? It’s not like they need the money.