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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Morata 'tells friends' he will sign for Chelsea, Barcelona 'open talks' with Ozil agent

Wouldn’t it be great to be friends with Alvaro Morata? He’d invite you to the coolest parties, get in rounds of expensive cocktails, maybe if you’re lucky even hand you some of his cast-off football groupies. But best of all, you’d be privy to all the latest transfer gossip in his life. Because if there’s one thing we know about Alvaro, it’s that he can’t resist telling his mates which clubs are trying to sign him. And we know this because the Telegraph told us.

According to the broadsheet, Morata has “told friends” he expects to move to Chelsea in the summer, despite rival interest from Arsenal. And Alvaro would not lie to his friends, because then he wouldn’t be a friend at all.

The only question left hanging is which of Morata’s friends told the Telegraph that he had told them he was signing for Chelsea, and does that mean they are more of an enemy than a friend? But this is not the time or place for such philosophical discussions. The fact is, Morata currently seems more likely to sign for Chelsea than for Arsenal, whether Diego Costa likes it or not.

The Blues still won’t be putting all their eggs in one basket though, particularly when they have such a large egg budget. Italian media types Calciomercato say Antonio Conte is also interested in Fiorentina forward Federico Bernardeschi and is ready to make a “summer splurge” for him, no less.

Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan are said to be keen on the 22-year-old too, while the Viola are also planning to offer him a new deal to keep him in Florence. What we need is for someone to speak to one of Bernardeschi’s friends and find out what he’s thinking.


The world’s biggest clubs continue to flirt with Arsenal contract rebel Mesut Ozil, with Barcelona allegedly “speaking to his agents” (Star) and PSG new boy Julian Draxler saying he wants his Germany team-mate to join in him gay Paris (Metro).

Manchester United will make some “significant financial adjustments” in order to finance a summer deal for Antoine Griezmann, says the Independent. Namely, offloading Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Ashley Young and “perhaps Marouane Fellaini”. Noooo, not Marouane Fellaini.

Elsewhere, Liverpool are “monitoring” Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic (Talksport), Hull City manager Marco Silva has “banned” days off for his players between now and the end of the season (Mirror) and, after being told yesterday that West Ham manager Slaven Bilic “wants to sign” Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, we are told today that West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has “no interest” in signing Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart (Standard). He must have watched a recording of those Euro 2016 videos last night.

@darlingkevin