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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Man Utd 'line up Neymar, Griezmann and Donnarumma, Man City 'target £50m Mbappe'

To paraphrase the pop singer Drake, it appears that when Neymar’s hotline blings, that can only mean one thing (s). It’s Jose Mourinho, and he needs the Brazilian’s love, or, at the very least, goals.

The Sunday Express reports that the Special One has been making “regular calls” to the Barcelona superstar “inviting him to quit Spain”. Can you invite someone to quit somewhere? Who really cares when there’s a potential £200m at stake.

That’s how much Manchester United would apparently be willing to shell out on Neymar – a figure the Express says would be a “drop in the ocean” compared to the “worldwide commercial revenue” they would recoup.

Unfortunately, it’s not disclosed what Mourinho has actually been saying in these phone calls. If only the tabloids could come up with some clever way to be able to listen to the voicemails he’s left on Neymar’s phone. Sure no one would mind.

United are, in fact, lining up sensational bids all over the place today. The Sunday Mirror says Mourinho is also preparing to make a £40m swoop for AC Milan’s teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma “as a contingency plan in case David de Gea leaves”.

Milan would apparently “find it hard to resist” a big offer for the keeper because they are “no longer the financial powerhouse they once were”. Is this the same AC Milan that were linked with moves with Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez earlier this week because the Chinese have invested loads of money into them? It’s hard to keep up with who’s rich these days.

Kylian Mbappe is a reported target for Man City.
Kylian Mbappe is a reported target for Man City.

United will also sign Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij from Lazio for “about £30m” in the summer, according to the Sunday Express.

And that’s before we’ve even mentioned Antione Griezmann, who has apparently “confessed” to his France team-mate Paul Pogba that he “sees himself” at Old Trafford next season (Daily Star Sunday).

With all these new signings, it’s going to be hard for Wayne Rooney to get in the United team next year.

The Sun on Sunday says Pep Guardiola has put £50m-rated Kylian Mbappe at the “top of his shopping list” after watching the Monaco forward destroy his Man City defence in midweek. Not that it’s particularly difficult to destroy Man City’s defence.

In manager gossip, Arsenal’s number one target to replace Arsene Wenger, Massimiliano Allegri, could go to Barcelona instead (Mirror), Leicester’s players want former manager Nigel Pearson to return to the King Power Stadium as Claudio Ranieri’s replacement (Sun) and two Chinese clubs are willing to pay Rafael Benitez £30m a year and make him the highest-earning boss in the world (Mirror). This is a guy who got relegated to the Championship last season, remember.

Elsewhere, Chelsea have told Tianjin Quanjian it will cost them £127 to sign Diego Costa – and they’re apparently “willing to pay it” (Star), Liverpool are leading the race to sign Fulham’s 16-year-old left-back Ryan Sessegnon ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City (Express) and West Ham have spent the past few weeks trying to flog Andy Carroll to the Chinese Premier League – without success (Sun). Apparently, you can’t sell someone on the strength of one overhead kick – not even to the Chinese.

@darlingkevin