Manchester United seem to be plotting a double raid on Paris Saint-Germain, after identifying Randal Kolo Muani as the answer to their striking problems and Nuno Mendes as their ideal left-back, though neither transfer looks straightforward. Kolo Muani, who moved to the Parc des Princes for £77m only 16 months ago and has scored twice in 14 appearances this season, could be available on loan and is also interesting Tottenham while also finding himself on a three-man shortlist drawn up by Juventus, where he is joined by United’s own Joshua Zirkzee and West Ham’s mostly-injured Niclas Füllkrug – the Old Lady are hoping to free up funds by selling the former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz back into the Premier League, with Manchester City one of three clubs they have offered him to.
Mendes meanwhile is in the final 18 months of his contract in Paris, and the Telegraph reports that “there have been several discussions” between United and the 22-year-old’s representatives, but also that PSG are hoping to convince him to sign a new deal and that there are “doubts he will demand a transfer during this window”.
Meanwhile Bayern Munich have opened talks with the agents of Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres in the hope of derailing a potential move to Manchester, where he would be reunited with his former manager Ruben Amorim. Should the Kolo Muani thing not happen United might try to sign Victor Osimhen instead, though Napoli have no intention of letting the Nigerian, who is on loan at Galatasaray, leave this month even if Marcus Rashford is offered in part-exchange. Meanwhile Olympiakos are ready to pay £1.5m to loan Antony for the rest of the season and Casemiro is still wanted in Saudi Arabia, where the plan is to snap him up for around £23m – leaving United bean counters to deal with a £50m loss on a player they signed two and half years ago – and stick him in the same Al-Nassr team as Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the subject of regrettable and expensive transfer mistakes, Chelsea want to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace but might have to pay between £40m and £50m more than the £18m they received when they sold him in 2021. Happily they would get a hefty chunk of that back thanks to a clever sell-on clause of around 18%. The Sun reports that Chelsea have made an opening bid, but quote a “source” saying: “Their offer was a long way off a fair price. It was silly and they need to offer more to even have a hope.”
The Mail counters that only “internal talks” have taken place at Stamford Bridge about the move, that “Palace are aware of the interest”, but a deal may be hampered by the fact that Chelsea have apparently “moved away from paying big remuneration packages”. Newcastle and Liverpool are potential rivals for the centre-back, whose contract runs to the end of next season, and Chelsea might end up bringing in a different Palace defender in the shape of Trevoh Chalobah, who has the advantage of actually still being their player, by cancelling the remainder of his loan deal at Selhurst Park.
The Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei might be on his way out of the club, meanwhile, with Torino keen to repatriate the 21-year-old. The Italian newspaper Tuttosport reports that Il Toro have already signed one Premier League player, having reached agreement with Everton over a deal for Beto.
Liverpool’s chances of signing the Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez – which they may or may not actually want to do though they are widely assumed to be, as the Times puts it, “admirers” – will be raised by the imminent arrival at the Vitality Stadium of the 19-year-old Argentinian left-back Julio Soler from Atlético Lanús, whose fee could rise to £11.5m. Meanwhile in right-back news Aston Villa are eyeing up Celta Vigo’s Óscar Mingueza, while also casting flirtatious glances at several unnamed alternatives.
