Football
ESPN 5y

Transfer Talk: Real Madrid turn to Newcastle star Almiron?

The transfer window is open. Click here to review all the latest transfers. And keep up to date with the latest gossip below.

When does the window open in Europe? | QUIZ: Which club should you join?

TOP STORY: Real Madrid turn to Almiron?

Newcastle fans had some bad news earlier with manager Rafa Benitez choosing to leave at the end of his contract (in six days) and now they are set for more. TYC Sports claim that Miguel Almiron has caught the eye of Real Madrid.

As we've seen already this summer, Real usually get the players they are after and Almiron would only cost £35m, giving Newcastle a small profit from the £21m they paid to Atlanta United to sign him in January.

The 25-year-old Paraguayan has been impressing with his performances in the Copa America but the question is whether he would want to move. If you have to pick between Real Madrid and Newcastle then the choice seems pretty simple, but Almiron won't want to sit on the bench behind the latest version of the Galacticos

LIVE BLOG

22.31 BST: We'll close Monday's live edition of Transfer Talk with more news from Tottenham. The Mirror reports that Spurs are monitoring Nordsjaelland winger Andreas Skov Olsen, who is valued at £15m, after the 19-year-old scored 23 goals across all competitions last season.

21.38 BST: Sevilla attacker Pablo Sarabia is on his way to Paris Saint-Germain in a €20m deal, AS reports, after the French champions beat out offers from Atletico Madrid and Valencia.

20.45 BST: Tottenham hope to make Leeds winger Jack Clarke their first signing in 18 months, with talks ongoing over an £8.5m deal for the 18-year-old, according to the Evening Standard.

19.58 BST: Real Betis are considering making an offer for Liverpool forward Divock Origi, Metro cites unnamed outlets in Spain as reporting, and believe they could get the 24-year-old Belgium international for less than £10m.

19.11 BST: On the day it was announced that he will leave Newcastle at the end of his contract, Rafa Benitez already has an offer from Chinese Super League side Dalian Yifang, writes Gianluca Di Marzio.

18.24 BST: Paris Saint-Germain are looking at another midfielder, Calciomercato cites Corriere dello Sport as reporting, suggesting that the Parisians are willing to offer €75m for Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

17.37 BST: Manchester United have rejected an approach from Paris Saint-Germain that would see Paul Pogba move to the Parc des Princes and Neymar join the Red Devils, according to the Independent. The report states that the Man United hierarchy turned down the offer because they hope to convince Pogba to remain at Old Trafford, and because even United fear that the reported £900,000-a-week wages would be too expensive.

16.50 BST: Bit more Barcelona news for you here...

Sergi Palencia is set to leave and join Bordeaux, where he spent last season on loan. Barca want €10m for him after a good season in France, say Mundo Deportivo.

SPORT also claim that Malcom isn't wanted, while Artuto Vidal will ignore offers from China in order to stay. But the club are evidently keen on bringing in Dani Olmo, a winger who left for Dinamo Zagreb as a teenager and is now playing at the U21 Euros for Spain. Bayer Leverkusen have already make a bid of €25m for the 21-year-old but a return to Camp Nou is his preferred destination.

16.09 BST: It seems like everyone wants to go back to Camp Nou, as a report in Marca claims that PSG right-back Dani Alves been offering himself back to Barcelona for a month but club won't take him up on it. 

Alves, 36, is leaving PSG this summer but has yet to find another destination. Though he has been quoted as saying in the past that he would love to sign for a Premier League club... and Arsenal need a right-back.

15.39 BST: Gazzetta dello Sport report that Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte could be set to make a signing (and it's not Romelu Lukaku.) He wants Hertha Berlin's Valentino Lazaro, a right-sided wing-back/winger who plays for Austria. The 23-year-old has been likened to Bayern Munich's David Alaba, but possibly only because they play for the same country.

15.18 BST: PSG have their own business to be getting on with and TF1's Telefoot report that the French champions maintain an advantage in the €75m pursuit of Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt and have also rejected Juventus' advances for Marquinhos

14.45 BST: Tuttosport claim there is an agreement between Adrien Rabiot and Juventus. 

The PSG midfielder has been training with the reserves for six months after refusing to sign a new deal in Paris and we all know how much Juve love a free transfer, so this one would work out well if it wasn't for the fact that the Serie A club have just signed Aaron Ramsey.

14.04 BST: Are you bored of all the talk about Neymar? Us too... so here's a small summary.

He's apparently ready to publicly repent in order to secure his Barcelona return, say SPORT. While El Pais say that Neymar needs to inform PSG of his desire if he wants to secure a return. 

PSG defender Marquinhos was asked by L'Equipe if he hoped Neymar stays in Paris. He said: "I hope so! He is somebody important. It is difficult to recruit a player like Neymar for your club, but it is also hard to keep him. I hope that he will continue with us. Outside of being an important player, he is also a friend, and a guy I love. I really hope that he stays." 

Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho told Marca: "Playing alongside Neymar is incredible. He is a great star. I do not know what is going to happen, but each time I am told that I will be playing with him gives me immense pleasure."

13.04 BST: Barcelona winger Denis Suarez says there's been contact with Celta Vigo and he wants to go back there one day.

Suarez, who spent part of last season on loan at Arsenal, is originally from Vigo and was in the club's academy before he made a move to Man City in 2011.

"I'm going to leave Barcelona and Celta is an option," he said. "I am convinced I will come back to Celta one day, but I don't know when. There has been contact. I have offers from abroad, too, but I am prioritising offers from Spain. Playing in Europe is a priority, but there are other options."

12.40 BST: Newcastle United will be looking for a new manager next season then...

12.33 BST: Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku is not prepared to hand in a transfer request to force a move to Inter Milan, sources have told ESPN FC.

Lukaku is open to the possibility of swapping Old Trafford for Inter to link up with boss Antonio Conte because of fears he will be behind Marcus Rashford in the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer next season.

Inter are trying to negotiate a deal for the Belgium international with United holding out for a fee of around £80m. But Lukaku is reluctant to speed up the process by formally asking for a transfer and will join the preseason tour of Australia, Singapore, China and Norway if a deal cannot be agreed.

12.03 BST: Update on Man United's chase for Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, via the Guardian.

United and Crystal Palace officials will meet on Monday for more talks but, with Palace wanting £50m for the 21-year-old, they are wildly apart on a fee. And the Guardian report says that United seem to have some lofty ambitions based on their various clauses.

It read: "Two bids had already been rejected out of hand. The second is understood to have guaranteed only £35m for the 21-year-old right-back, with a further £15m dependent upon personal and collective honours. Palace considered those performance-related clauses -- some are believed to relate to United, who finished sixth last term, winning the Champions League -- to be wildly unrealistic."

11.44 BST: French publication La Voix du Nord reports that Manchester United and Liverpool are still in the race for Lille winger Nicolas Pepe.

Pepe, 24, has also seen Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan monitoring him -- with reports that an £80m bid is imminent. But the report claims that Pepe holds a "profound desire" to play in the Premier League.

11.28 BST: The son of the late Jose Antonio Reyes, Jose Reyes Lopez, has signed for Real Madrid.

The 11-year-old has put pen-to-paper on a contract with Los Blancos, the club where his father played on loan in the 2006-07 campaign and helped them win La Liga.

11.03 BST: Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who has spent the last three years on loan at Bristol City, Swansea and Aston Villa, has been speaking about his future in London.

Abraham, 21, scored 25 goals for Villa this season as they sealed promotion to the top flight but will return to Chelsea, with the club under a transfer ban from FIFA.

"This year is the most important year for us. It is now or never," the England U21 striker said. "There will never be a better time to play the youngsters. Of course the transfer ban is probably not what the club wanted but for us it is exciting. I am excited and I am sure the rest of the players are.

"There is a great chance for us young players so we must get our heads down in training and go for it at Chelsea. I have already been talking to the club about pre-season. I'm going to have a couple of weeks and then come back hitting the ground running. There is no better time for a young player to be at Chelsea. I am going to give it my all. With a new manager coming in there is no better time to show what I am made of in pre-season. I am just buzzing at the thought of the new season."

10.41 BST: Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballossays he is focusing on helping Spain reach the Under-21 European Championship final before deciding on his future.

Diario AS report that Tottenham are leading the race to sign Ceballos, but that Madrid are only listening to offers starting at €50m for a player who joined from Real Betis for €17m.

According to the publication, the 22-year-old wants to leave the club on a season-long loan while Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is keen for him to be sold this summer.

Ceballos told AS ahead of Thursday's semifinal: "Right now I'm focusing on a very important semifinal. I'm calm about the future. I have four years left on my contract with Madrid and I'm calm. I'm really enjoying this tournament like a kid and I'm not stopping to think about where I will play next season." 

10.22 BST: Unai Emery is ready to break the bank to sign Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, say the Sun.

Arsenal's entire summer budget is £45m, before any player sales are taken into consideration, but according to the report "the Spaniard will look to force Arsenal's board to release the funds needed to sign the £55m-rated Palace winger."

Zaha, 26, is a boyhood Arsenal fan, so it might worth out. But surely there would have to be a couple of players sold on in order to balance the books?

09.55 BST: Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. is convinced it's only a matter of time before Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe joins his club.

In an excerpt from an interview given to Telefoot, when asked about Mbappe moving to Madrid, the Brazilian said: "Of course I know that all Real Madrid fans dream of Mbappe. But not just those of Madrid but fans of all the teams.

"I admire him a lot, he has already won many titles and if he truly comes to Real Madrid, it will be very good. Mbappe's future is at Real Madrid. I think he will come in a short time. We would win a lot of things together without a doubt."

And Real Madrid players can't stop talking about Mbappe, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also asked by AS about the 20-year-old Frenchman: "Is he coming to the Bernabeu? I don't know. I only know what I see in the press. But it is clear that players like him are always going to be very welcome here at Madrid."

09.35 BST: Manchester United are set to sign Mateo Mejia from Real Zaragoza, according to AS.

The 16-year-old has been watched by Atletico, Valencia and Arsenal and hit 53 goals in 29 games for U.D. Amistad last season -- a club twinned with Zaragoza.

09.21 BST: TyC Sports report that Olympique Marseille are ready to make an offer for Boca Juniors forward Dario Benedetto.

The Argentina international signed a new contract with Boca until 2021 and has a release clause set at €21m. According to the outlet, Marseille will make a lower offer which is likely to be turned down by Boca, who consider Benedetto a key player.

08.54 BST: AC Milan are reported to be lining up a bid for Real Madrid full-back Theo Hernandez after he was spotted dining with the Italian club's technical director Paolo Maldini.

Maldini travelled to Madrid last week with fellow Milan directors Zvonimir Boban and Frederic Massara, with Maldini telling reporters on his return that the trip had "gone well."

He had reportedly been there to discuss a loan move for Dani Ceballos, although a picture published by El Chiringuito showing Maldini with Hernandez in Ibiza suggests the French full-back, who spent last season on loan at Real Sociedad, is also a Rossoneri target and could become the first new signing for new coach Marco Giampaolo.

08.26 BST: James Rodriguez says he doesn't know which club he'll play for next season and that Real Madrid will make that decision. The Colombia international is competing at the Copa America after a two-year loan spell at Bayern Munich for Real Madrid.

Napoli are interested in signing James, who is tied to Madrid until June 2021, while the player is also a reported target of Atletico Madrid. Marca reported that Madrid are hoping to cash in on James following the 27-year-old winger's strong performances at the Copa America. Earlier this month, Napoli reportedly offered Madrid €10m to take James on a season-long loan, with a compulsory €40m purchase option included in the deal.

Asked about a potential move to Napoli or Atletico, James said as reported on Cadena Ser radio: "I don't know. Right now I'm thinking about the Copa. I still don't know where I'm going and I want to be calm."

Asked if he or Real Madrid would determine his future, he said: "The club. There are people within [the club] that give the orders and I can't do anything."

When asked if he had spoken to Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane about his future, he said: "No, never, never."

08.00 BST: Barcelona legend Samuel Eto'o has put the cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that Liverpool star Mohamed Salah should leave the European champions for a move to Camp Nou.

Salah has been linked with Real Madrid ever since he emerged as one of the Premier League's elite forwards in the 2017-18 season, and he has scored 71 goals for the Reds since joining them from Roma two years ago, most recently in the Champions League final triumph over Tottenham earlier this month.

However, despite those constant rumours of interest from the Bernabeu, Eto'o -- who played for both of the Spanish giants as well as Premier League club Chelsea during his career -- believes La Liga champions Barca would be more suitable for the Egypt international.

"Barcelona would be a better fit," the former Cameroon striker told the BBC. "Real gave me the opportunity to leave Africa but I know Barcelona's style and I think it would be better for him.

"If he has the chance to play in the best league of the world, which is the Spanish one, he has to sign for Barcelona.

"Mo has everything to be one of the best players in the world."

PAPER TALK (by Steve Wright)

Gunners return for sought-after Tierney

Arsenal made an improved offer for Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, after having their initial bid turned down, The Times reports. 

The Gunners offered a fee of £15 million for the promising 22-year-old earlier in the week, but that wasn't enough for the Scottish side.

It's estimated that the second offer is somewhere between £19m to £25m -- a figure that would likely make Tierney the most expensive player sold by Celtic ahead of Moussa Dembele, who left for Lyon for a reported £19.7m in 2018.

However, £25m is the bare minimum for Celtic, who know that they hold all the cards with a number of clubs circling for Tierney's signature.

Torreira's move to Milan on the cards

More news from the Emirates as Arsenal are open to allowing Lucas Torreira to move to AC Milan, after the Serie A side submitted their first offer, according to a report by Sport Mediaset. 

AC Milan made a two-year loan offer for Torreira worth up to £7m, which includes a £34m option to buy that would be paid in one installment.

The Gunners have responded positively, welcoming the negotiations with Milan but insisting that a deal could be completed only with an obligatory purchase clause included in the contract, meaning Milan would have to buy him outright at the end of his loan spell.

With Unai Emery's side omitted from the Champions League in 2019-20, they're understandably looking at thinning the squad to bolster revenue in an effort to increase the transfer budget for next season.

Maguire to join City in record deal

Harry Maguire could join Manchester City this week in a record-breaking £80m deal, according to a report by The Mirror. 

It was reported last week that City had offered £65m for the Leicester City centre-back, but the Premier League champions are now prepared to increase that valuation in line with the Foxes' expectations.

The current record transfer for a defender is £75m, set when Virgil van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton in January 2018.

City are reported to be happy to cough up a hefty £280,000-per-week wage to attract the Englishman to the Etihad Stadium.

Tap-ins

- Romelu Lukaku's rumoured move to Inter Milan is at a standstill, as the Italian club have failed to meet Manchester United's transfer valuation for the Belgian, Mediaset Premium reports. United reportedly won't sell Lukaku for any less than £75m, and Inter remain short of meeting the valuation.

- Newly promoted Sheffield United are hopeful of signing relegated Huddersfield Town midfielder Jonathon Hogg, The Sun reports. However, former Huddersfield boss David Wagner -- who's now in charge at Schalke -- wants to bring his former apprentice with him to Germany.

^ Back to Top ^