Marouane Fellaini is expected to leave Manchester United when his contract expires come season’s end and French sports daily L’Equipe have raised eyebrows by saying Liverpool could be the big-haired Belgian’s next port of call. With Emre Can also expected to do one from Anfield for pastures new in Turin, Jürgen Klopp will be in the market for a new midfield enforcer and reports in France say Liverpool will offer Fellaini a three-year deal.
Very few players have lined up for both clubs and fewer still have moved straight from one to the other. Phil Chisnall switched from United to Liverpool in 1964 and remains, rather remarkably, the last player to be transferred directly between the clubs. Should Fellaini follow his path, he will do so as a free agent and almost certainly incur the wrath of Manchester United fans.
Despite loaning their Nigerian striker Olarenwaju “Larry” Kayode to Shakhtar Donetsk in the hope of greasing the heels for a summer move for the Ukrainian side’s Brazilian midfielder, Fred, Manchester City are facing the prospect of another embarrassing come-from-behind mugging from their city rivals United. José Mourinho has identified the 25-year-old as a transfer target and is ready to match Shakhtar’s £50m valuation of a player who might be unhappy at the prospect of playing second fiddle to Fernandinho if he moves to City.
Having wrapped up their sixth successive Bundesliga title with a win at Augsburg over the weekend, Bayern Munich plan to celebrate by offering two of the sprightly young whippersnappers who helped them win it new deals. With their combined age of 69, wingers Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben are both out of contract at the end of the season, but will be given the option of staying on at the Allianz Arena in their dotage. Whether or not the players agree to re-sign remains to be seen – Robben was asked about his plans for next season on Saturday and was decidedly non-committal about his future. “As I said, and I think have said many times before, once all the options are on the table, I can make my decision,” he declared.
Despite his explosive start to the season having turned into a surprisingly damp squib, Watford winger Richarlison is a young man in big demand. Chelsea, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco are all being linked with summer moves for the young Brazilian who has failed to rediscover his early-season form since Marco Silva was fired and a proposed January move to Everton fell through.
Also an Everton target, Silva is being tipped to replace Sam Allardyce as manager next season, but only if the club fail to lure Paulo Fonseca, their first choice, from Shakhtar Donetsk. Despite having a year left to run on his contract at Goodison Park, Allardyce remains unpopular with supporters and may leave and take over at West Brom, the club where with whom he took his first tentative steps into management as a player-coach way back in 1989.
