Newcastle United ‘approach’ Chelsea over major £50m star signing as Man United receive vital transfer boost

With the summer’s transfer business starting off busy and only likely to speed up, it can be pretty hard to keep track of all the stories doing the rounds – but we’re here to make things easier with our daily round-up of the freshest new Premier League transfer rumours, and we’re starting things off today up at Newcastle.

According to Caught Offside, Eddie Howe’s side “have approached” Chelsea in order to open up negotiations over a potential deal for England winger Noni Madueke, whose stock has perhaps fallen following a quiet second half of the 2024/25 season.

Chelsea “might be open” to a deal if Newcastle are willing to fork out around £50m, apparently, although the report does note that the Blues are “unlikely” to let Madueke leave this summer despite the interest from the Magpies.

That’s partly because Newcastle are said to value Madueke at no more than £35m, suggesting that negotiations will be tricky to get started. Either way, Howe is determined to finally land a long-required replacement for Miguel Almirón.

The 3AM Verdict: The link between Newcastle and Madueke isn’t new, but given that Newcastle need to watch their bank balance relatively tightly and Chelsea aren’t believed to be in a hurry to sell, we suspect that this one won’t get done this summer, with Madueke getting another year at Stamford Bridge before the top brass tire of his inconsistency. A possibility, but we expect Newcastle to end up signing someone else.

Manchester United target ‘open’ to Old Trafford move

Let’s head over to Old Trafford now, with some rare good news for Manchester United – according to TalkSport, their seemingly optimistic desire to sign Sporting striker Viktor Gyökeres “is open” to moving there despite the fact that they didn’t qualify for any European football next season.

The prolific Swede “remains a possibility” with Sporting hoping to get around £60m for their star player – around £25m less than the price demanded by his release clause.

Arsenal could still provide competition, apparently, despite recent reports which suggest that RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Šeško is their primary target, and United have yet to make a formal approach, according to the report – so this could run for a while yet, and no deal is imminent. Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus are all also interested to some extent.

The 3AM Verdict: The Gyökeres situation is far too high up in the air for us to figure out where it lands just yet. He may well be open to United, but we can’t imagine they’ll be his first choice if all of the clubs supposedly linked end up making a bid – Champions League football is quite the draw. A move to Manchester isn’t all that implausible, though, if other teams head in different directions and Ineos open up their wallet.

Fulham & Leeds United need to move quickly to bag transfer target

Let’s wrap up today with a tale for Fulham and Leeds fans – Sport Witness have picked up on reports from the continent which suggest that both teams are among the sides interested in Mainz right-back Antony Caci, but that they face stiff competition.

Stade Rennais are also keen on the 27-year-old French full-back, with Fulham and Leeds “lurking” in the background as the Ligue 1 side lead negotiations. The two Premier League sides may not have made a move as yet, but are “keeping a close eye” on his situation, as are Borussia Dortmund.

No word on how much Caci, who registered seven assists as Mainz qualified for Europe this season, would cost – but it probably won’t be all that much, given that he has just one year left on his deal in Germany.

The 3AM Verdict: It’s looking like a case of the clubs needing to act now or miss out, with Stade Rennais moving fast. Caci, a former Under-21 and Olympic international, has been quietly improving in the Bundesliga for years now, and has developed into a dangerous attacking threat – if the price isn’t too steep, he could be a very good and budget-conscious addition for either interested team.