Football transfer rumours: Aston Villa steal ahead in Tielemans chase?

Having watched a certain someone lead Manchester City to a league and Cup double, Manchester United are after a Scandinavian forward of their own. Rasmus Højlund may not yet have the credentials of Erling Haaland but, with 16 goals and seven assists for Atalanta this season, the Dane is certainly catching the eye and could join his compatriot Christian Eriksen at Old Trafford.

The 20-year-old won’t come cheap, though, and is expected to fetch at least £40m. Not the best news for Anthony Martial, who could leave United after another injury kept him out of Saturday’s FA Cup final, the third successive final the Frenchman has missed for the Reds.

Related: Men’s transfer window summer 2023 – all deals from Europe’s top five leagues

Christian Pulisic is using the international fixtures to his advantage, simultaneously falling over himself to express his loyalty to Chelsea and also keeping his options open. “As of right now, I’m a Chelsea player and I plan to go back, but a lot of things can happen. A lot of things can change,” said the USA international before the Concacaf Nations League title defence gets under way. “It’s been an interesting journey at club level for me – I had a great couple of years and the last couple of years just haven’t gone at all how I planned them to be.”

The news of Karim Benzema’s move to Saudi Arabia has kickstarted Real Madrid into a rather nostalgic gear of being linked with … pretty much everyone. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is the latest name to fall out of Florentino Pérez’s mouth, with the Canadian still having two years to run on his contract. The same cannot be said for Nacho Fernández, who is considering offers from Real and Internazionale.

Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Pérez and Tetê will leave Leicester on the expiry of their contracts. Soyuncu has already agreed a move to Atlético Madrid, while Aston Villa are the latest to be linked to Tielemans, who also interests Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Suit news (although it is quite a nice suit): Paolo Maldini will revert from Milan director to mere Milan legend after apparently clashing with the club hierarchy over the vision going forward. Maldini had said after the Champions League semi-final exit to Internazionale that Milan were “not yet built to handle two tournaments” and a meeting on Monday with the club chairman, Gerry Cardinale, seems to have confirmed the former Italian defender’s own departure.

Another person that could leave San Siro is Mike Maignan. The French stopper has been in scintillating form for Milan over the past season and is now regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Chelsea are keen, but will have to ship out Édouard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga to fund a €60m-ish move for Maignan.

RB Leipzig are preparing a second bid for Liverpool’s Fábio Carvalho after their first effort was turned down last week. Jürgen Klopp and co don’t want to lose the Portuguese youngster, who is concerned over game-time in a new-look Liverpool midfield, which could include Barcelona’s Franck Kessié by the end of the summer.