Paper Talk: Chelsea eye strike quintet; Spurs to nab £20m City star

Moussa Dembele: Wanted by Prem giants

Chelsea have been linked with five strikers after the failure to land Romelu Lukaku, while Tottenham could make a shock raid on Manchester City, according to Tuesday’s newspapers.

 

CHELSEA LINKED WITH QUINTENT FOLLOWING LUKAKU SNUB

Chelsea have been linked with moves to sign five different strikers in the wake of their failure to land Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgium striker completed a £75million move to Old Trafford on Monday, despite looking likely to join the Blues for most of the summer.

Following that transfer failure – in which our readers called for heads to roll at Stamford Bridge – the Blues have been linked with five strikers – with the Daily Express suggesting Antonio Conte multiple names under the spotlight as he bid to replace Diego Costa.

The paper claims Conte’s top target is Alvaro Morata, but will also consider a deal for Torino’s Andrea Belotti, despite the latter’s €100million release clause.

A cheaper option would be Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, who the Express claims Chelsea have already made contact over and has been told he can leave Borussia Dortmund for £63million.

The paper also suggests Chelsea are set to battle West Ham for Celtic striker Moussa Dembele, and also believes they could potentially lock horns with Everton for Christian Benteke.

 

TOTTENHAM LINKED WITH CITY STRIKER IHEANACHO

Kelechi Iheanacho: Scored the second

Tottenham could hijack Leicester’s move for Kelechi Iheanacho in order to speed up Kyle Walker’s move to Manchester City, according to reports on Tuesday.

Spurs are in the market for a new striker this summer, but it was expected that Nigerian Iheanacho would join one of either West Ham or Leicester.

And it seemed a deal to the Foxes was close, with widespread reports suggesting they had struck a £20million with City.

However, The Sun claims Tottenham could make an 11th hour attempt to land the striker, who has fallen way down City’s pecking order following the arrival of Gabriel Jesus in January.

City are keen on a deal for Spurs right-back Walker and feel Tottenham’s interest in Iheanacho could be used as a bargaining tool, or even see the striker thrown in as part of the £40m package for the England man.

 

AND THE REST

Diego Costa is ready to play for Chelsea if called upon, despite his bust-up with manager Antonio Conte (Daily Express)

Manchester United have demanded £30m for Anthony Martial following interest from Roma (Daily Express)

Manchester United and Manchester City appear to have been pipped to the signing of Fabinho, as Atletico Madrid agree a deal for the 23-year-old

Real Madrid are on the verge of signing Dani Ceballos after Real Betis confirmed his clause has been triggered and will not sign a new deal (Daily Express)

Southampton star Virgil van Dijk is desperate to seal a move to Liverpool, after being hotly tipped to move to Anfield earlier this summer before the Reds cooled their interest amid tapping up accusations (Daily Star)

Leeds are in pole position to sign Italian-born striker Caleb Ekuban, as new boss Thomas Christiansen begins to stamp his mark on the side (Daily Star)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic won’t be offered a new Manchester United contract, as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury (Daily Star)

Arsenal have tabled an offer for Eintracht Frankfurt wonderkid Aymen Barkok (Daily Star)

Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is heading back to Aston Villa, after Jose Mourinho and Steve Bruce agreed on a deal for him to return to Villa Park (Daily Star)

Alexis Sanchez is preparing for another season at Arsenal, as the club won’t consider a Manchester City bid of lower than £90m for the Chile international (The Independent)

Manchester United are confident of completing a deal for Ivan Perisic, despite still being short of Inter’s £50m asking price (The Independent)

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is to miss City’s US tour in bid to seal a move away from the club (Daily Mail)

Arsenal are confident in seeing off interest from Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea to tie down Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to a new deal (Daily Mail)

Leicester City winger Demarai Gray has been promised more game-time by manager Craig Shakespeare (Daily Mail)

Jose Mourinho wants Manchester United chief Ed Woodward to make rivals Tottenham an irresistible £60m offer for Eric Dier (Daily Mirror)

Paris Saint-Germain will learn in the next 24 hours if they have succeeded in hijacking Manchester City’s move for Dani Alves (Daily Mirror)

Jose Mourinho could wreck a second big Chelsea transfer in a week after moving for Monaco star Tiemoue Bakayoko (Daily Mirror)

Leicester hope to wrap up the signing of Kelechi Iheanacho this week after making striker Islam Slimani available (Daily Mirror)

Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer has revealed he wants to quit in search of regular first-team football elsewhere

Harry Redknapp is plotting a raid on his Birmingham side’s arch-rivals Aston Villa for defender Tommy Elphick (Daily Mirror)

Arsenal have joined Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool in the race for highly-rated Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk (The Sun)

Virgil van Dijk: Discusses his future

Manchester City flop Wilfried Bony is wanted by French giants Marseille (The Sun)

Arsene Wenger is eyeing Toulouse’s 18-year-old Burkina Faso-born stopper Alban Lafont as Petr Cech’s replacement (The Sun)

Rafa Benitez is growing increasingly concerned about a lack of transfer activity at Newcastle, after seeing a number of targets slip through his fingers (The Sun)

Benitez has demanded Newcastle United make an improved bid for Norwich City winger Jacob Murphy as he grows increasingly irritated by managing director Lee Charnley’s failure to sign his transfer targets (Daily Telegraph)

Manchester City believe Claudio Bravo can help land ‘close pal’ Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez this summer in £50m deal (The Sun)

West Ham flop Sofiane Feghouli is set for a £4.5m Galatasaray switch, after spending just one season in the Premier League with the Hammers (The Sun)

Sofiane Feghouli: Equalises for Hammers

Arsene Wenger will refuse to sell Olivier Giroud until he has a clearer idea of whether Alexis Sanchez will stay or if Monaco can be persuaded to sell Thomas Lemar (Daily Telegraph)

Chelsea defender Kyle Jameson is on trial with Celtic. The 18-year-old has a year remaining on his contract but could be set to link up with Brendan Rodgers’ side (Daily Record)

Celtic are set to complete signing of Manchester City midfielder Olivier Ntcham in a £4m move