Aston Villa are among the clubs monitoring Liverpool defender Joe Gomez after his opening day snub.
England international Gomez’s Anfield career has been thrown into fresh doubt after being dumped from the squad for new manager Arne Slot’s first Premier League game in charge at Ipswich on Saturday.
Villa boss Unai Emery is looking to bolster his backline before next Friday’s transfer deadline and versatile Liverpool centre-back/full-back Gomez is among the list of options.
Any move is likely to depend on the future of Villa centre-back Diego Carlos, who is wanted by Fulham.
talkSPORT understands Gomez was close to completing a £45million move to Newcastle at the start of the window, but there is no indication at this stage that the Magpies, still hopeful of landing Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi, will revisit their interest.
Steady Eddie!
Nottingham Forest will have to make Eddie Nketiah their highest-paid player to tempt him away from Arsenal.
talkSPORT exclusively revealed last week that Forest were lining up a move for Nketiah and they have now seen an opening offer worth £25m rejected.
Nketiah – valued at £50m at the beginning of the window – earns £120,000-a-week at the Emirates Stadium and is not willing to take a pay cut despite being an unused substitute in the Gunners’ opening day win over Wolves.
As well as Nketiah, Forest are in talks with Feyenoord over a move for Mexican international Santiago Gimenez and a mystery third strike, so expect the City Ground to be a hive of activity in the last two weeks of the window.
Busy Brighton… and it’s not over
Brighton’s summer spending spree is showing no signs of slowing down – thanks mainly to Todd Boehly!
Ambitious Seagulls owner Tony Bloom has already shelled out more than £140m on players for new manager Fabian Hurzeler in a bid to mount another European challenge this season.
The Sussex side retain a strong interest in Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley if they can reach a compromise with the Scottish champions over their £30m asking price.
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Brighton have also held advanced talks with Fenerbahce over a swoop for Turkish left-back Ferdi Kadioglu.
The irony is, even if they smash through the £200m barrier, the Seagulls will still have change from the £225m they have been paid by Chelsea for Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez and manager Graham Potter in recent seasons.
Boehly is clearly taking note of what Bloom is cooking up, since Chelsea hijacked Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s move from Leicester to Brighton and also showed an interest in Gambian winger Yankuba Minteh before his £33m switch from Newcastle to the Amex.
Another Chelsea exit?
It went under the radar given the Raheem Sterling furore, but midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka was also left out of the squad for Chelsea’s Premier League opener against champions Manchester City.
When quizzed on the £20m man’s absence, new manager Enzo Maresca made reference to Chukwuemeka’s injury from last season.
That appears a slightly strange take from Maresca, given the ex-England under-19 international played almost eight times more minutes than Romeo Lavia and only 302 minutes fewer than Christopher Nkunku, both of whom started the 2-0 home defeat to City.
Wesley Fofana did not manage a single Premier League minute due to a serious knee injury but was also chosen at the heart of Maresca’s defence against the champions.
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Chukwuemeka’s signing pre-dates the arrival of co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart and the ex-Aston Villa youngster was regarded as one of England’s brightest young talents when Chelsea won the race for his signature, so much so he has a £40m release clause in his contract.
Barcelona are long-term admirers in Chukwuemeka and retain an interest in signing him, as well as clubs in the Premier League including Crystal Palace and around Europe.
