Manchester United eye £47m flop signing replacement as Chelsea prepare bold double midfield swoop

It’s time for Tuesday’s round-up of the biggest and boldest new Premier League transfer rumours – and today, we’ve got news for fans of Manchester United, Chelsea and Crystal Palace coming up.

Let’s start at Old Trafford, with a story from Caught Offside, with the claim that Manchester United goalkeeper André Onana “may be moved on” come the summer – and that United have already lined up a prospective replacement.

Citing AC Milan rumour blog Milan Live, it’s alleged that Ruben Amorim sees French shot stopper Mike Maignan as a “possible successor” to Onana, whose departure isn’t “set in stone” but is becoming more likely, with Amorim and the rest of the club’s top brass apparently unconvinced.

29-year-old Maignan is under consideration as United “actively assess” the number one jersey – but no financial details are hinted at in the report, and nor is there any word as to whether Milan would let him go.

The 3AM Verdict: Maignan hasn’t had a great season himself, in truth, but has proven himself to be among Europe’s better goalkeepers over the last few years so one can see the appeal. He would also have just one year left on his Milan contract by the end of the season, which could make him relatively affordable, an important consideration given United’s financial situation.

Real ‘set sights’ on Palace prospect

Real Madrid could be getting ready to raid Crystal Palace this summer, according to The Daily Mail, who claim that the Spanish giants’ chief scout is a “confirmed admirer” of 21-year-old midfielder Adam Wharton – and that Real have been scouting him over recent weeks since he came back from long-term injury.

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Wharton is apparently valued at £70m by Palace – around £50m more than they paid for him when he signed from Blackburn Rovers a little over a year ago – and Manchester United and Liverpool are alleged to be interested, too, but it’s implied that Real have the most interest as it stands.

The 3AM Verdict: The high cost suggests that the most likely outcome is Wharton remaining at Selhurst Park for another season, but Real are widely expected to sell Aurélien Tchouaméni this summer and that could leave them needing a replacement and some money burning a hole in their back pocket… We wouldn’t be entirely surprise if there turns out to be something substantial behind this one. For the obvious financial reasons, we’re less convinced by the Manchester United link, and Liverpool are well supplied with young midfielders.

Blues eye two new midfielders

Chelsea are expected to be busy in the transfer market again this summer, which won’t come as too much of a surprise – but the identity of the targets alleged in another Caught Offside article might raise a few eyebrows.

They claim that Chelsea want “double midfield reinforcement” come the next transfer window and are considering moves for Bayern Munich veteran Joshua Kimmich, who is set to become a free agent, and AS Monaco’s 21-year-old wonderkid Lamine Camara.

The latter is also the subject of interest from Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham, although there’s no word on what the financial side of such a deal might look like. With Kimmich, the equation would be more straightforward – negotiations over a new contract with Bayern have broken down and he wouldn’t cost a penny. Well, apart from a massive pay packet, a huge signing fee and probably a big cut for his agent. Apart from those minor details, he’d be completely free.

The 3AM Verdict: There isn’t much verifiable information behind these stories, so we can only suggest that Camara fits their modus operandi given that he’s young, talented, and ripe for a ten-year contract, while Kimmich is quite a bit older than anyone they’ve signed of late. Still, such great players seldom become free agents, so that could change Chelsea’s youthful tune – but we’re not seeing much evidence that these stories are especially solid.