Man City bidding for £39m rock solid defender as £10m West Ham flop set for exit

Manchester City may have finally stopped the rot on the field with a narrow 2-1 win away to Luton Town – well, stopped it a little bit, anyway – but that doesn’t mean that Pep Guardiola and his team aren’t already beavering away on some transfers to bolster a slightly stuttering title defence.

Fresh reports from Italian outlet Tuttomercato suggest that there has been a lot of recent movement over the future of Atalanta’s defensive wonderkid Giorgio Scalvini, who at the age of just 20 has established himself as one of the leading centre-halves in Serie A and broken into the Italian national side. Apparently City are among the suitors and have opened up negotiations with the Bergamo-based side.

It isn’t clear whether he might leave in January or whether we’re looking at a move for next summer, but apparently City have been told that Scalvini would cost a bare minimum of €45m (£38.5m), although the Italian side want more. Which is a lot of money to anyone other than the Emirati-owned Manchester City, of course.

The 3AM Verdict: Scalvini is a massive prospect who’s not just a find defender but also exceptional with the ball at his feet, and his technical profile is pretty much exactly what Guardiola likes in his defenders, so we find this one extremely plausible and probably very good news for the reigning champions of England and Europe. Apparently Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan are in the bidding, too, but City should have the clout to make this one happen. If Guardiola feels the need for another defender, he would certainly be a very exciting signing.

Arsenal target packing his bags in Brazil

Over in Brazil, the knock-on effects of Santos’ shock relegation from Série A – the first in the long and storied history of the club that gave us both Péle and Neymar – are starting to become clear, and one is that Arsenal target Marcos Leonardo will “for sure” be on the move, according to Fabrizio Romano via Caught Offside.

Whether the 20-year-old striker is likely to wash up in North London remains to be seen as there are no shortage of clubs interested in the Brazilian Under-20 international, who managed 13 goals in Santos’ relegation campaign, although the article does warn that there isn’t anything “advanced or concrete” between Leonardo and Arsenal just yet.

The 3AM Verdict: Leonardo is regarded as a big prospect in Brazil and certainly knows where the net is, even if he isn’t quite on the same level of preternatural talent as someone like Endrick – the financials behind a deal remain unclear, as well, so it’s hard to judge whether Arsenal should be in for him or not. But he has plenty of finishing skills, a nice touch and a pretty bright future to look forward to, and Arsenal have invested heavily in scouting the South American market, so it would be no surprise if they throw their hat into the ring.

West Ham outcast offered a way out

Finally for today’s transfer round-up, a word from Sport Witness on the situation of West Ham United’s Thilo Kehrer, who was signed with a fair amount of fanfare last year but has become no more than a bench warmer under David Moyes.

Apparently the Hammers have been offering him out to clubs in the Bundesliga, with Eintracht Frankfurt reportedly especially keen on taking Kehrer off of West Ham’s hands. A move in January seems eminently plausible with both player and club keen to move on.

The 3AM Verdict: Kehrer hasn’t made much of an impact at the London Stadium so it’s hardly a shock that West Ham are trying to get rid of him – he barely sees the field of play. It wasn’t all that long ago that PSG saw a future superstar in the 27-year-old, but that simply hasn’t materialised yet and the versatile defender seems to be drifting through what should be his prime years. Perhaps he can make a better fist of things in his homeland.