Newcastle United and Aston Villa’s forgotten man, Chelsea’s Poch prep, and Crystal Palace’s major blow

May 9th; historically a big day for cinema. It was on May 9th, 1980 that legendary slasher flick Friday 13th first hit theatres, spawning a franchise, and a Halloween hockey mask industry, that has thrived ever since. Twenty-two years prior to that, Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal thriller Vertigo landed on the silver screen, and has since gone on to garner a reputation as one of the greatest films ever made.

But as we rifle through today’s batch of hot and steaming transfer speculation, who will be running for their lives, and who will be experiencing dizzying highs? (One day I will run out of tangential introductions for these round-ups, but today is not that day.) Shall we peruse?

Moura attracting attention from Toon and Villa

I’m not entirely certain on what the threshold for ‘Forgotten Man’ status is, scientifically speaking, but I’m pretty sure that 120 minutes of Premier League football in 35 fixtures soundly surpasses the minimum requirement. In a season of bad seasons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Lucas Moura’s season has arguably been worse than most. The Brazilian, once so influential, has been relegated to a recurring role as ‘Innocent Bystander #28’, and it’s an arrangement that doesn’t seem to suit either him or Spurs.

Fear not though, dear Lucas, for change is afoot. Maybe. Moura’s contract in north London expires this summer, and both Aston Villa and Newcastle United are understood to have expressed interest in signing him on a free transfer in the coming months. According to Torcedores, Flamengo are also eager to lure the forward back to his home country, but the player would ideally prefer to stay in Europe, with Villa and Toon holding an advantage, but Lazio, Marseille, Roma, and Wolverhampton Wanderers all monitoring his situation too.

The 3AM Verdict: All of this makes perfect sense. Moura is evidently surplus to requirements at Tottenham, but at the age of 30, still has plenty left to offer. Joining a Villa or a Newcastle feels like a natural progression for his career, and as far as either club is concerned, bringing in a player with his calibre of experience on a free transfer is likely to be a savvy move.

Chelsea want Sadio Mane

Yeah, you read that right. According to Football.London, the free-spending, free-falling Blues are interested in bringing the Senegalese icon back to the Premier League this summer. Mane’s time with Bayern Munich has been tumultuous, diplomatically speaking. (To put it less diplomatically, he has struggled with injury, struggled for form, and has been soundly outcast after punching teammate Leroy Sane in the face.)

As such, it is widely suggested that Bayern would be willing to cash in on the forward to the tune of around £30 million in the coming months, and that their readiness to sell could appeal to Mauricio Pochettino, who is said to be leading the race to become Chelsea’s new manager and who would ideally like to bring in a new goalkeeper, central midfielder, and striker when he arrives in the dugout. Mane, for his part, is not necessarily any of those things, but he is versatile, and can play through the middle of an attacking line if and when required.

The 3AM Verdict: Look, signing Sadio Mane is never going to be a terrible idea. The man exudes quality, and was a member of one of the most fearsome and dominant sides in recent Premier League history. You do have to question the wisdom of Chelsea’s recruitment method though. By now, Todd Boehly must have come to the realisation that you can’t just throw money at a problem and expect it to go away. If Chelsea need a number nine this summer, go and sign a number nine; don’t just sign somebody kind of like a number nine and then hope for the best because they were expensive. We’ll see how it pans out, but as with most things the Blues do these days, there are obvious reservations.

PSG eye Olise

And finally, according to the Daily Mail, Paris Saint-Germain want to replace Lionel Messi and Neymar with... Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise. I am deadly serious. Kind of.

Basically, with Messi almost certain to depart this summer, and with Neymar potentially set to follow him through the exit door, the Ligue 1 giants are going to have an awful lot of space on their wage bill all of sudden. The plan, as per this update, is to use those funds to bring in young, French talent that can endear itself with the fanbase. Olise seemingly ticks those boxes.

As for Palace, if they do lose the 21-year-old, they could look to soften the blow of his departure with a £25 million swoop for Flamengo’s Matheus Franca.

The 3AM Verdict: Something like this was always going to happen. Olise is a superstar-in-waiting, and it was really only a matter of time before a properly huge club came sniffing around for him. At the very least, Palace fans can take some solace in the fact that if he does go, the board appear to have a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings, but there’s no two ways about it - losing Olise would be a major blow.