Football transfer rumours: Damsgaard to Liverpool? Curtis Jones to Villa?
While transfer deadline day ends at 11.30pm on Tuesday, Real Madrid prefer to march to the beat of their own drum and haver decided that Paris Saint-Germain have until close of play today to accept their baffling £163m offer for Kylian Mbappé or the deal is off. The Rumour Mill is going to go out on a limb and guess that if the French side, for whom Mbappé scored twice in their win over Reims on Sunday night, fail to respond to Real Madrid’s “threat”, then the deadline might just be extended by another 24 hours.
Tottenham are reported to have ended any interest they might have had in the Sampdoria and Denmark winger Mikkel Damsgaard, but Liverpool, Aston Villa and Leeds are admiring him from afar. Villa are are also reported to be interested in securing the services of Curtis Jones from Liverpool and are preparing a bid of £15m. The 20-year-old midfielder has been pushed down the pecking order at Anfield by the emergence of Harvey Elliott and has yet to sample first-team action this season.
Related: Men’s transfer window summer 2021 – all deals from Europe’s top five leagues
The imminent arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford means Dan James is almost certainly surplus to Manchester United’s requirements and headed for the Old Trafford door marked “Do one!” and Everton, Leeds, Crystal Palace and Brighton have all been mooted parties interested in offering the Wales winger a new home.
With Kurt Zouma gone to West Ham, Chelsea’s efforts to sign Jules Koundé from Sevilla have hit a snag. Sick of fielding lowball offers from the European champions, the La Liga side’s beancounters have threatened to make them trigger the player’s €80m release clause unless they stop wasting their time. Koundé himself is believed to be extremely eager to make the move to Stamford Bridge.
Venezuelan target man Salomón Rondón could be on his way back to the Premier League after departing for China two years ago. Everton are currently in talks with Dalian Pro with a view to signing a striker who has previously worked successfully with Rafa Benítez, at Newcastle. Everton also remain hopeful of bringing the Porto winger Luis Díaz to Goodison Park but their apparent determination to send James Rodríguez the other way as part of the deal is threatening to derail negotiations.
Dennis Praet has yet to line up for Leicester this season and will not get to do so if Torino have their way. Meanwhile in Germany, Dortmund want to sign either Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea or Diogo Dalot from Manchester United. The Rumour Mill “understands” (translation: read somewhere else) that Thomas Tuchel is not keen on letting his winger leave, while Dalot wants to stay at Old Trafford.
And finally, depending on your media outlet of choice, Manchester United are or are not planning to make a last-ditch effort to sign Kieran Trippier from Atlético Madrid, while Tottenham are ramping up their efforts to sign Barcelona right-back Emerson Royal.
