Manchester City are in pole position to sign Benfica’s 19-year-old midfield prodigy João Félix – but he’ll come at a cost. According to the Sun, they can expect to pay the player’s €120m release clause in full if they beat Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus to the young whippet’s signature. Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, “is believed to have held initial talks over a deal with the Portuguese club’s hierarchy,” they report, and is trying to convince them to accept a lower up-front sum “by adding performance-based bonuses to their offer”.
The Evening Standard says Felix is not the only Benfica teenager City want to sign, with the English club competing with United (again) and Barcelona for 16-year-old Ronaldo Camara, “one of the most sought-after prospects in world football”. Other than the midfield, they report of Pep Guardiola that “a top quality left back is now among his priorities”, alongside “another centre back”, while the Spaniard “is also considering adding to his attack”. So, to summarise, he doesn’t need a new goalkeeper.
It’s no surprise that Manchester United can’t afford Félix, since they are ready to pay £65m for the Mill’s old friend Harry Maguire. “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has urged United to sign Maguire so he can build his defence around the 26-year-old,” says the Express. “It has emerged Maguire is open to a switch to United and has let it be known a deal can be done.” Ander Herrera, meanwhile, could be off to Paris St-Germain on a free.
“Everyone wants Dybala,” declares Tuttosport, who believe that “the impact of Real Madrid’s summer revolution will be felt throughout Europe” and could end with Juventus’s Argentinian starlet leaving Turin. “So many clubs like him – besides Inter he has admirers in Spain and England – but first he has to wait for Real’s first move and hope that he joins the domino run of attackers,” they write. Tuttosport predicts that one of Neymar and Kylian Mbappé will leave Paris St-Germain this summer, bound for the Bernabéu; PSG will then replace whoever departs with Antoine Griezmann, forcing Atlético Madrid to move for Paulo Dybala (unless someone else has first), whose place at Juve might by then have been taken by Federico Chiesa. As for what Fiorentina might do then, frankly your guess is as good as ours.
Real, as frequently publicised, also want Eden Hazard, but according to Sky should a move for Chelsea’s Frenchman falter they will target instead West Ham’s Felipe Anderson “in a deal likely to be worth around £65m”, or almost exactly double the fee the Hammers paid for him last summer.
The choice facing Chelsea as they select a new manager to replace the underwhelming Maurizio Sarri has come down to logic v sentiment, with the two camps represented by Nuno Espirito Santo and Frank Lampard. “There is a growing feeling the Italian is not a natural fit for the club,” deduces the Sun of Sarri. “Nuno has been gaining growing support within the Blues board … but Lamps would be the fans’ choice.”
According to Bild Liverpool are, like every club in the Bundesliga with deep enough pockets, interested in Callum Hudson-Odoi. But don’t get too excited: the Liverpool Echo says the club’s summer plans are relatively modest and that they certainly “won’t be shelling out anywhere near the eye-watering amounts of the past two transfer windows”. Meanwhile in news of former Liverpool players, the Spanish newspaper Sport says that Philippe Coutinho could be sold by Barcelona this summer for €100m.
Meanwhile across town, Everton “could pounce” for Salomón Rondón if Newcastle fail to snap up their on-loan striker this summer, says the Star. In a story that features the word “could” a lot and makes only the slightest pretence of insider knowledge – “Starsport understands Everton are interested too” – they announce that “Everton boss Marco Silva is short of options in attack and Rondón could fit the bill”.