Man United eye surprise raid for ex-Man City star as Newcastle chase Premier League rivals’ goalkeeper

Welcome to our daily digest of the freshest new Premier League transfer rumours – and we’ll kick things off today with a fairly wild story from Spain which suggests that Manchester United are among the clubs eyeing a move for a player who’s rather better known for his work over the other side of the city.

Former Manchester City wing-back João Cancelo, who is apparently experiencing a “football renaissance” at Saudi side Al Hilal, has “sparked the interest” of Ruben Amorim, who sees the experienced Portuguese player as “an ideal option” down the right flank, despite his connections with those noisy neighbours.

This is according to Fichajes, who also reckon that Aston Villa and AC Milan could be in the market for the 30-year-old, with Emery’s side said to have “entered the bidding” for Cancelo, not that any details of this apparent approach are provided. Milan, meanwhile, could allegedly move if Kyle Walkers doesn’t make his loan spell there permanent.

The 3AM Verdict: Every now and again, we include a suitably wild Fichajes story just to remind our readers that their hit rate with transfer rumours is questionable, to say the least. United are likely to look at signing younger players where possible and are unlikely to match the kind of wages Cancelo is earning in the Middle East. We doubt this one will happen.

Man City eye Italian goalkeeper

We’ll stick with Manchester City connections for today’s second story – Sport Witness have picked up on some reports from Italy which suggest that Pep Guardiola’s side are taking a look at Juventus goalkeeper Michele di Gregorio, who is now a “prime target” for the summer.

Apparently, City spoke to Juve about Di Gregorio when they were bidding for Andrea Cambiaso and were rebuffed, with the Old Lady unwilling to sell their number one just six months into his career in Turin. In any case, Di Gregorio is technically on loan from Monza, albeit with an obligation to buy for up to £13m.

Nevertheless, City are “likely to make an attempt” to sign the 27-year-old, even though the report suggests that it would take a “massive offer” to persuade Juventus to part ways with him.

The 3AM Verdict: We did hear some rumblings from Italy about City’s interest in January, but nothing much came of it – it’s hard to say whether this is just the Italian media filling up column inches by repeating old work, or whether there really is a new lead suggesting that City are serious. Clearly, we’ll find out come the summer…

Chelsea & Newcastle keen on Liverpool star

We’ll wrap things up for today with a story from TeamTalk which alleges that Chelsea and EFL Cup finalists Newcastle United are at the head of the queue for Liverpool’s second-choice goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, who has apparently told the club that he won’t sign a new contract.

The 26-year-old is “pushing to leave” Anfield this summer, one year ahead of the expiry of that contract, and Chelsea and Newcastle are supposedly among four sides “keen on a deal” for the Irishman. Leeds United and Fiorentina are the others – a diverse list of suitors, certainly.

The Reds, meanwhile, have Giorgio Mamardashvili arriving in the summer and while they don’t necessarily want Kelleher to leave, they will apparently let him go for a fee in the range of £20-25m.

The 3AM Verdict: This report leans heavily on Football Insider, which isn’t necessarily a great source, but also Ben Jacobs, which is a bit better. Figuring out where Kelleher could go is tricky as he will presumably only move to be a starter – we wonder whether Chelsea would guarantee that, especially with several young goalkeepers hoping to push for minutes, too. Newcastle make more sense, and we could see Leeds if they get promoted, as Illan Meslier is a divisive figure among fans at Elland Road, to say the very least.