Newcastle enter market for star striker as Arsenal & Liverpool join hunt for rival’s £85m man

It’s once again time for our daily round-up of some of the biggest and boldest new Premier League transfer rumours – and having scoured the world’s media for fresh stories over the past 24 hours, we’ll start off with an interesting story concerning Newcastle United.

Sport Witness have picked up on some whispers from Italy which suggest that the Magpies are “emerging as key candidates” for the signing of Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović, who could well leave the Old Lady this summer with just one year left on his contract.

Newcastle have mostly been connected with interest in Hugo Ekitike and Moise Kean, but with the inconsistent but imposing Vlahović potentially available at a fair rate, it looks like they’ve added the Serb to their shortlist as well.

It’s “increasingly likely” that the 25-year-old’s future lies away from Turin, apparently, and several clubs are monitoring him, with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur both mentioned in the report. More worryingly for Newcastle fans is the claim that Juve could use Vlahović as leverage to try and sign Sandro Tonali…

The 3AM Verdict: Vlahović does seem to have dropped off the radar of a couple of teams, like Arsenal, so Newcastle monitoring the situation makes some sense, but we’re still not sure how much the Magpies will really invest in a striker when they already have Alexander Isak – who we firmly expect to stay at St. James’ Park. Vlahović’s contract may make him relatively cheap, but only relatively. We doubt that Tonali leaves, either.

Arsenal, Liverpool & Chelsea to battle for £85m West Ham man

Over to a story from Caught Offside now – they claim that several top Premier League sides have joined Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr in pursuing West Ham United’s Mohammed Kudus.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are all “monitoring his situation” with the Saudi side widely expected to make a bid for a player who has a release clause which starts at £80m – but which is believed to be as high as £85m for Premier League clubs, according to reports elsewhere.

Al-Nassr, the club of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mané, remain keen and view the Ghanian winger as “an important target” for the off-season, but now it looks as though some Premier League clubs could poke their nose into negotiations as well.

The 3AM Verdict: We suspect that the Saudi Pro League will be happier to spend something like £80m or more on Kudus that any English sides will after a relatively disappointing season at the London Stadium. His talent is undeniable, but the price sounds too steep for now for us to think that a deal is very likely.

Real Madrid plot outrageous Manchester City move

We’ll wrap up today with a rumour of what would be a true blockbuster transfer – according to Caught Offside (again), Real Madrid have “targeted” Manchester City’s Rodri for a summer move.

The Real hierarchy seem unimpressed with a squad which seems set to miss out on La Liga and see Rodri as the ideal to target to strengthen the midfield, it’s suggested. The claim is backed up with a story from German tabloid Sport Bild, although quite why they’d have an inside track on an Anglo-Spanish transfer is unclear).

They may be “ready to make a move”, as the report claims, but there is no word on how much they might be prepared to offer, whether City would ever sanction a sale, or what the player himself might think about the idea.

The 3AM Verdict: We just don’t see this one happening. Rodri is too important to City for them to let him leave, they don’t need the money (to say the least) and the lack of any details in this story doesn’t make us feel any better about its chances of proving to be true. We think City fans can probably breathe easy.