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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Man Utd 'to sign Fabregas, lose Ibrahimovic', Chelsea 'get Bonucci boost', West Ham 'reject Carroll offers'

Fabregas, Zlatan and Bonucci - much in demand
Fabregas, Zlatan and Bonucci – much in demand

Cesc Fabregas is having a funny old season, but it’s improving – a fact that can be gleaned from observing the progressively better teams that allegedly want to buy him.

When Cesc was at rock bottom, he was being linked with West Ham (those were dark days), then the transfer speculation moved on to “Chinese clubs”, then it was AC Milan and, today, it’s Manchester United. Still not quite at the Barcelona level of yesteryear, but at least he’s moving in the right direction.

The Telegraph says Milan are planning a £27m summer bid for the Chelsea midfielder, but the Star claims Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho is planning to “hijack it”.

This would be a slightly surprising turn of events, partly because Fabregas and Mourinho were rumoured to have had a spiteful bust-up during the Blues’ implosion last season – although the Spaniard has always denied that.

Read more: Klopp must beware of being too loyal to his players

In any case, Jose has probably left it a bit late to make his move, because Fabregas has been restored to Antonio Conte’s side in recent weeks.

Another cause for Mourinho’s concern is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who continues to stall on signing a new contract at Old Trafford. The Mirror says the Swede is “prepared to quit” United but “has yet to decide” if he will extend his contract for another year.

Basically, it’s Zlatan creating some drama about Zlatan and, unfortunately for Mourinho, there is nothing he can do about it (although one assumes qualifying for the Champions League will help his case).

Could Leonardo Bonucci be on his way to Chelsea?
Could Leonardo Bonucci be on his way to Chelsea?

Chelsea’s long-running pursuit of Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci could reach a successful climax in the summer, suggests the Sun.

The 29-year-old had a public falling out with Juve coach Max Alegri earlier this month, and the perennial Serie A champions now reportedly consider the centre-back “sellable at the right price” – which would be £42m.

Arsenal are planning a double raid on Napoli this summer, with Gunners scouts having been impressed with left-back Faouzi Ghoulam while watching attacking midfielder Lorenzo Insigne, says the Sun.

Watch: Has there been a better signing this season this season than Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

But that may all depend on whether the club change managers. Arsene Wenger still appears to be clinging on to his job, with the Mirror claiming he has turned down a £30m-a-year offer to move to China that would have made him the highest-paid footie boss in the universe. Give Arsene an £8m-a-year Arsenal deal any day of the week.

Finally, let’s not forget our brothers in China who are today going through their transfer deadline day, presumably with the Chinese version of Harry Redknapp being interviewed in his (very non-eco friendly) car.

There’s not much movement yet though. Tianjin Quanjian have confirmed they failed with a £90m offer for Chelsea’s Diego Costa (Express), West Brom have issued Tianjin with a “hand-off warning” over Salomon Rondon (Birmingham Mail) and West Ham have “turned down several lucrative Chinese Super League offers” for Andy Carroll (Mail).

Funny, because a couple of days ago the Hammers had reportedly tried and failed to offload the big striker to China. Nothing like a bit of positive spin.

@darlingkevin