Newcastle United plot stunning £55m double transfer raid as Man Utd receive surprise midfielder bid
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Welcome to Friday’s rundown of some of the biggest and boldest transfer rumours doing the rounds across the Premier League – and we start today by running the rule over a report that a Manchester United stalwart could be set for a rather surprising departure from Old Trafford.
Not that it’s necessarily a shock that United might move on from Scott McTominay in itself, but The Times’ claim (paywalled) that Serie A side Napoli are interested does come out of leftfield, and apparently the two sides are already in talks over a deal for the Scotsman, who has also been the subject of interest from Fulham and West Ham United.
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Hide AdMuch like those two teams, Napoli aren’t really keen to meet the £30m asking price set by Manchester United – instead, the bid is reported to be for an initial loan move, although there are no details of any buy clauses or loan fees that might be included in the deal. There is also no word on whether United or McTominay are minded to accept.
The 3AM Verdict: McTominay is a deeply underappreciated player who was the only man in the squad able to effectively support the attack from midfield last season, but it’s pretty clear that United want the cash to help fund the ongoing rebuild. Napoli, meanwhile, are doing a bit of a rebuild themselves and McTominay certainly reads like an Antonio Conte player. We’ve no reason to doubt the source, but the finances may prove to be a stumbling block – if United don’t budge on their valuation, we suspect they might not find a taker.
Newcastle chase stunning double deal
With a third bid for Marc Guéhi reportedly rejected by Crystal Palace, Eddie Howe and his transfer team are starting to eye up other targets – and according to TeamTalk, Chelsea castoff Trevoh Chalobah is at the top of their list, with the Blues asking for £25m for the centre-half, almost a third of what it looks like it will take for them to sign Guéhi.
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Hide AdBut that isn’t all. With Chelsea keen to sell players to fund all their many new acquisitions, Newcastle may also be able to get their hands on winger Noni Madueke, who has only been at Stamford Bridge for a year but is apparently now available for £30m. That deal would, however, depend on Newcastle being able to find a buyer for Miguel Almirón.
The 3AM Verdict: TeamTalk are keeping the sourcing close to their chest on this one, so we can’t comment on the veracity of the report, but it would be a very interesting deal if it got done. Still, we suspect that Guéhi is very much the first choice over Chalobah – and we also wonder why, if they did make the much cheaper signing of the Chelsea man, there would be issues with financing a second deal for Madueke. All we know is that if Chelsea do sell the highly promising Madueke just a year after signing him, then they really are run by people who have no idea what they’re doing.
Chelsea striker ‘reluctant’ to leave
Finally, word of another possible departure from Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have been doing their best to find someone to buy Albanian striker Armando Broja but after struggling to make an impact on loan at Fulham last season, he’s not had many takers – until now.
BBC Sport’s Nizaar Kinsella reckons that freshly-promoted Ipswich Town are interested in taking him on loan, which itself is an issue because Chelsea want a permanent deal. The player himself, meanwhile, may be “reluctant” to accept a move to Portman Road as he could have “a variety of options” elsewhere. Apparently this one could run right the way down to deadline day.
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Hide AdThe 3AM Verdict: Kinsella has a good read on what’s going on at Chelsea so we expect he knows what he’s talking about, but it will be interesting to see just how many options Broja has – frankly, he’s failed to make a dent in the top flight following a serious ACL injury. Chelsea were allegedly asking for £50m for him back in January, which seemed optimistic then and more so now. Both club and player probably need to set their sights a little lower.
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