Man Utd are swiftly moving on from Mason Mount as Erik ten Hag is looking to beat Chelsea and Arsenal in the race for an £80m midfielder…
MAN UTD MOVE ON FROM MOUNT
Chelsea rejected United’s £55m ‘final’ offer for Mount earlier this week and with the club’s asking price exceeding £65m, a compromise will have to be reached to get the transfer back on track. If this doesn’t happen, he could well end up leaving his boyhood club on a free transfer in 2024.
While talks over Mount have been ongoing, Chelsea have been working on a deal to sign Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, who was pursued by Arsenal in January.
The Blues have already had a bid rejected for the Ecuador international, who according to The Times, is valued at £80m by Brighton.
But ‘after reaching an impasse in their attempts to sign Mount’, Man Utd are ‘focusing on’ other midfield targets and Caicedo is ‘at the top of their list’.
Caicedo could cost around £15m more than Mount, but ‘United are prepared to take into account his younger age and radically different contract situation’.
The Ecuador international recently extended his contract until 2027 and Brighton also have the option for a further year. United are now set to ‘intensify their efforts to explore a deal’ after ‘maintaining dialogue with his representatives’.
The Times are also reporting that United are going to ‘step up their efforts’ to sign a striker with Atalanta’s Rasmus Hojlund and Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani ‘their primary options’.
READ MORE: Man Utd are not serious people if they entertain Chelsea’s Mount counter…
GVARDIOL ‘AGREES PERSONAL TERMS’ WITH CITY
With Ilkay Gundogan and (possibly) Bernardo Silva leaving this summer, Man City’s rivals would have been hoping that the treble winners would be heading into next season with a weaker squad.
But Pep Guardiola is always looking to improve his team and RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol is understood to be their main target this summer. Liverpool and Chelsea have previously been linked with the 21-year-old, who is billed as one of the best young defenders in Europe.
Man City are already well-covered at centre-back but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed that they have ‘agreed personal terms’ with Gvardiol.
Guardiola is understood to ‘rate Gvardiol highly’ and RB Leipzig ‘won’t sell him for less than €100m’. Man City will surely hope to get him for a lower fee and ‘talks’ are set to take place between the two clubs with the view to reaching a full agreement.
GUNNERS ‘ON VERGE’ OF SIGNING DUTCHMAN
After falling short to City in the 2022/23 Premier League title race, Arsenal are not f***ing about in the transfer market this summer.
Top target Declan Rice reportedly ‘favours’ Arsenal over Man City and they are close to signing Kai Havertz from Chelsea.
Ajax’s Jurrien Timber – who is also admired by Man Utd and Liverpool – has recently emerged as Mikel Arteta’s main defensive target and a deal is likely to be completed.
Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg claims Arsenal are ‘on the verge’ of signing Timber from the Dutch giants.
The defender ‘wants to join’ Arsenal and a ‘verbal agreement’ has been reached. The London outfit are set to make a new offer for Timber and it is suggested that a deal can be done for ‘€40-45m plus bonus payments’.
READ MORE: Van Dijk replacement at Liverpool mooted in January transfer predictions after summer regrets
