Man Utd prepare astonishing swap deal as Liverpool & Chelsea chase ‘Serbian Messi’
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Welcome to Friday’s rundown of the biggest new Premier League transfer rumours that we’ve spotted doing the media rounds – we’ve got news for fans of Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Ipswich Town coming up shortly, but first up we’ve got word of a frankly remarkable deal involving Manchester United.
With the arrival of new manager Rúben Amorim, there have been plenty of stories suggesting that the Portuguese manager will raid his former side Sporting, and in particular there is the suggestion that they will make a move for star striker Viktor Gyökeres – and alongside those, there are claims that Amorim may try to get rid of summer signing Joshua Zirkzee. Now, The Daily Briefing (paywalled) have combined the two.
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Hide AdThey reckon that United are “ready to make their move” and could offer Zirkzee, who cost just over £35m when he arrived from Bologna in the summer, in part-exchange for Sweden international Gyökeres, whose scintillating goalscoring form has seen him linked with several elite sides around Europe.
The 3AM Verdict: We’re still slightly sceptical about the claims that Zirkzee is for the axe already, not least because he should, in theory, fit Amorim’s system quite well. In any case, we think it’s wildly unlikely that Gyökeres goes anywhere before next summer, which will give United time to make their mind up about the Dutchman.
Premier League sides in for ‘Serbian Messi’
While we find the genre of nickname that gives us things like ‘The Bolivian Cruyff’ or ‘The Micronesian Maradona’ to be rather dull and lazy, we won’t hold that against Crvena Zvezda midfielder Andrija Maksimović, who is apparently ‘The Serbian Messi’ – and according to TeamTalk, also on his way to the Premier League.
Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea are “among several sides” interested in the 17-year-old, who can play as a number ten or out wide and already has a dozen goal contributions for his club – the artist formerly known as Red Star Belgrade – this season. Apparently Maksimović, who claims himself to be better than Lamine Yamal, will “not come cheap”, although a specific price point isn’t mentioned.
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Hide AdThe 3AM Verdict: Maksimović is drawing some rave reviews so we aren’t shocked to see the vultures circling – it’s a safe bet that all of these sides are sending scouting parties out to get some information, alongside just about every decently-sized club in Europe. Don’t expect him to move this January, but a big team somewhere will certainly take a chance on him. He’s a big talent.
Ipswich risk losing key player
If Ipswich Town are to stay up this season, it’s pretty clear that summer signing Liam Delap will be a pretty big part of the reason – he’s already scored six goals for the Tractor Boys, after all. Unfortunately, that impressive form means that he’s already attracting attention from bigger teams – at least, according to Sport Witness.
They’ve picked up on a report from Italian site Tutto Juve which reckons that the Old Lady themselves are keeping tabs on Delap with an eye on bringing him to Turin. It seems Juventus may not be alone, either, with unnamed Premier League sides also said to be scouting the 21-year-old. Ipswich fans shouldn’t panic, however, as it looks certain that he will stay until the summer at the very least.
The 3AM Verdict: Delap’s performances were bound to attract attention and there’s nothing inherently implausible about the link to Juventus. We do think that there’s close to a zero percent chance that he moves in January, at least, as Ipswich simply can’t afford to let him go. The offer would have to be much higher than it will be to make that gamble worthwhile.
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