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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Man City ‘bid £53m for Stones’, Arsenal ‘want £55m Draxler’
Wow, Manchester City don’t mess about. The club’s interest in John Stones left us braced for a repeat of last summer’s painfully tedious saga of Chelsea offering some money for Stones and Everton saying no, and then Chelsea offering a bit more money for Stones and Everton saying no again.
But City were evidently as bored by this process as everyone else, so they’ve attempted to bypass it by offering so much money for Stones that Everton couldn’t possibly refuse it without feeling silly.
The Sun reports that Pep Guardiola has started this summer’s bidding for the 22-year-old centre-back at a frankly ridiculous £53m, which is roughly £13m more than Everton would have taken for him last summer - and that’s before he had a dodgy season.
The move, the Sun hardly needs to remind us, would make Stones “the most expensive defender in history”. Hopefully he turns out to be more reliable than the current holder of that record, David Luiz.
Arsenal are also reportedly set to go BIG in the transfer market, with the Mirror reporting that Arsene Wenger’s interest has been piqued by the potential availability of Wolfsburg’s Julian Draxler.
The Germans are expected to demand £55m for the winger, who Wenger apparently wants to use as a striker instead. Presumably that plan makes more sense in his head.
Alternatively, the Gunners may splash out £42m on an actual striker in the shape of Alexandre Lacazette, claims the Express. Wenger will reportedly turn to the prolific French striker, who has been the subject of approximately 27 bids from West Ham, if his pursuit of Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain falls through.
Another alleged Arsenal striker target, Alvaro Morata, is set to remain with Real Madrid after the Bernabeu giants dropped out of the race to sign Paul Pogba, says the Independent. And yes, we know they play in different positions.
Amusingly, the Independent adds that if Arsenal don’t manage to sign any of these strikers, or wingers that they turn into strikers, then they will start the season with just one available forward: Chuba Akpom.
One man who won’t solve this problem is Thomas Vermaelen, yet he would like to try. The Star claims that the former Gunners defender wants to return to the Emirates after falling down the pecking order at Barcelona. West Ham want him too, but he probably doesn’t want to go there.
Besiktas are being linked with two separate swoops for Manchester City defenders, with Turkish website Fanatik revealing a £25m offer for Vincent Kompany and the Manchester Evening News saying Aleksandar Kolarov is on his way to the Turkish champions for £3m.
Elsewhere, Stoke are preparing an audacious £17m bid for Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina (Sun), Tottenham are keen on Barcelona winger Cristian Telo (Express) and Leicester have offered N'Golo Kante £100,000-a-week to stay at the King Power Stadium, but he’s going to say no (Mail).
