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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: City and United ‘turn to Jesus’, Swansea ‘want Bony’, West Ham ‘close in on Calleri’

You probably don’t know much about Palmeiras wonderkid Gabriel Jesus apart from the fact that he’s named after the son of God and a 90s pop star with an eye patch, but Hot Football Transfer Gossip has learned from its Brazilian contacts that this little lad is actually very good at football. The real deal, as it were. More Neymar, less Alfonso Alves . So it’s no surprise that the battle for his signature is getting utterly silly.

The Sunday Mirror has reported that Manchester City and Manchester United are both desperate to sign Jesus, but the transfer is being complicated by a series of buyout clauses in the 19-year-old forward’s contract.

The first clause states that any club who offers £33.5m for Jesus can have him, but for five teams - Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and United - that figure is lowered to just £20m.

Good news for the Red Devils, you might think, but apparently Jose Mourinho has been so unnerved by City’s pursuit of the youngster that he is willing to pay more than the release clause to ensure he gets him.

The Mirror says City have offered £26m for Jesus and sweetened the offer with a personal phonecall from Pep Guardiola, but this has prompted United to tell the Brazilians they will pay £29m - even though the buyout clause (for them) is just £20m.

Confused? Don’t worry, it will all be immaterial when he snubs them both and joins Real Madrid instead.

City will be making some space in their squad regardless, with Wilfried Bony set to leave the Etihad imminently. The Sunday Express says Everton are favourites to sign the Ivorian striker but adds that Bony’s former club Swansea are also sniffing around and could buy him back for £15m - which is £10m less than they sold him for 18 months ago.

The Toffees are also keen on Dutch defender Bruno Martins Indi, who the Sun on Sunday says is “agitating for a move” from Porto. The 24-year-old’s release clause is £33.5m, which is a bit ridiculous seeing as he can’t even get in the Holland team (who are rubbish) at the moment, but Everton are being tipped to bid a more sensible £12.5m.

Everton also remain keen on Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel, but the Mail on Sunday doesn’t seem to fancy their chances given that the afro-sporting Belgian is also wanted by several unnamed “Italian clubs” and Chelsea.

The Sunday Express adds that the Blues have also lodged a £25m bid for Benfica’s Swedish centre-back Victor Lindelof, because that’s the kind of thing they do.

West Ham are “closing in” on a loan deal for 22-year-old Argentine centre-forward Jonathan Calleri, who was roughly 26th on their list of striker targets but may be the only one who wants to join them (Sun on Sunday).

Elsewhere, Leicester have made a £6.25m offer for 19-year-old Polish midfielder Bartosz Kaputska (Mail on Sunday), Liverpool have pulled out of a deal to sign 22-year-old Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski (Gazzetta dello Sport) and Tony Adams has turned down a coaching role at Arsenal so he can take up a role at Chinese club Chongqing Lifan instead (Sunday Telegraph). Obviously.

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