Man Utd could steal signing from Newcastle United as £34m Liverpool star edges towards shock exit

It’s time for your Friday morning round-up of all the latest Premier League transfer rumours – and we’re going to kick things off today with what could prove to be a pretty significant update on Manchester United’s supposed summer transfer plans.

Caught Offside claims that Ruben Amorim and his transfer team have identified two more “prominent names” to target come the summer, and one of them happens to be a player who has been widely linked with a move to Newcastle United – goalkeeper James Trafford.

Newcastle have put in “a lot of legwork” to sign Trafford already and it was widely expected that he would head to St. James’ Park to act as Nick Pope’s long-term replacement but United may want him to take over from André Onana instead. The player’s own thoughts on whether he’d be happy to become a New Trafford at Old Trafford are not made clear.

The other target is another player who’s the subject of some pretty close monitoring from Premier League clubs – RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Šeško, who is believed to be available for €80m (£67m) due to a release clause this summer, but is also wanted by Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and more. United haven’t been linked with the Slovenian very often in recent weeks, but this report insists that they are “at the table”.

The 3AM Verdict: Murmuring about United wanting a new goalkeeper are starting to grow a little louder, and getting from there to a bid for Trafford is hardly a large logical leap – one to keep an eye on over the coming months. We’re less convinced that United are going to fight for Šeško given the much stronger link with Victor Osimhen, but we assume they’re at least keeping tabs, just in case.

Spurs looking to bring Sunderland star back home

Over to a story from TBR Football now – they reckon that Tottenham Hotspur are “keeping close tabs” on a former academy graduate of theirs, Dennis Cirkin, who is having an impressive run of form with Championship promotion contenders Sunderland.

Apparently, “a host of Premier League clubs” are interested in the 22-year-old Anglo-Irishman, who will have just one year left on his contract at the Stadium of Light come the end of the season. Chelsea, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Everton and Leeds are all mentioned in passing, but a return to North London, where he played until 2021, may be the more romantic and eye-catching proposal.

The 3AM Verdict: There isn’t much detail on Spurs’ interest, nor on what Cirkin might cost this summer, although presumably much will hinge on whether Sunderland get promoted or not. It certainly sounds as though the vultures are starting to circle, though.

Liverpool could lose England star

We’ll round things off today with an intriguing story from Italy which has been picked up on by Sport Witness – they claim that Liverpool’s slightly under-sung hero Curtis Jones is beginning to grow frustrated with his lack of starts under Arne Slot and “could be offered by his agents” to other teams this summer.

Inter Milan would “have a chance of landing him”, it seems, hence the Italian connection, and while Jones’ preference is to establish himself as a regular under Slot, he would also be “right up” Inter’s street. It’s speculated that he is valued at around €40m (£33.5m) by the Reds right now, not that they would necessarily be looking to sell.

The 3AM Verdict: An interesting new rumour. Jones certainly hasn’t been getting as many starts as an England international of his talents might expect, and one does wonder how long he would handle that with patience before trying to force a move. We’re not sure there’s enough concrete info to take this one without at least a small pinch of salt, but it’s one worth monitoring.