Euro Paper Talk: Barca close on €40m PSG battler; Real Madrid want Chelsea star
Manchester United could sign a long-term target with Real Madrid eyeing a replacement from Chelsea, while a Croatia hero will reject advances from a trio of Premier League clubs, according to Wednesday’s European papers.
VARANE WHISPERS GROW LOUDER FOR MAN UTD
Raphael Varane has been given the green light to leave Real Madrid for Manchester United by his Los Blancos teammate Sergio Ramos, according to reports emanating in Spain.
United are in the market for a new centre-half this summer and on Wednesday were given renewed hope of landing Toby Alderweireld.
However, Don Balon claims Jose Mourinho could also find his route cleared to sign long-term target Varane in a €60million deal.
According to the report, Ramos has told Real president Florentino Perez he should cash in on the injury-prone Frenchman and bring in Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso as his replacement. It’s claimed club captain Ramos – who has a large say on Real’s transfer activity – believes Alonso would compliment his game and prove a more reliable figure than Varane, who is yet to clock up 30 league games over a single season.
While the report seems highly unlikely to have any foundation to it, if true it would give Mourinho something to think about given his long affinity to the player he brought to the Bernabeu back in June 2011.
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AND THE REST
Croatia’s World Cup star Ante Rebic will turn down Premier League interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham as he holds out for a €50m move to Bayern Munich (Bild)
Barcelona held meetings with representatives of Paris Saint-Germain in Paris on Tuesday to discuss a €40million deal for Arsenal and Chelsea target Adrien Rabiot (Sport)
Manchester United are in the clear to sign Willian after Barcelona balked at the winger’s €70m asking price (Diario Gol)
Chelsea have offered Cesc Fabregas to Napoli in a bid to drive down the price the Blues will have to pay for Maurizio Sarri and Jorginho (La Repubblica)
Sevilla want Arsenal and Chelsea target Jean Michael Seri to replace the outgoing Steven N’Zonzi in their midfield (Estadio Deportivo)
AC Milan will be forced into selling all three of Leonardo Bonucci, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Suso this summer as they bid to balance the books in the wake of FFP regulations (Calciomercato)
Jasper Cillessen is demanding showdown talks with Barcelona over his future amid reported interest from Liverpool and Chelsea (Sport)
An Italian trade union has announced that Fiat workers at its Melfi plant down south will go on strike over Cristiano Ronaldo’s €105m transfer to Juventus, claiming as employers of the same company as Ronaldo it’s “unfair we can’t get to the middle of each month while one man is paid millions” (Football Italia)
Lazio winger Felipe Anderson could become a West Ham United player in a matter of days (Sky Italia)
Inter Milan will allow Matias Vecino to leave for Chelsea once they have finalised the signing of Mousa Dembele from Tottenham (Gazzetta dello Sport)
Fabio Capello has revealed Gonzalo Higuain will join Chelsea following Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus (Sky Italia)
Chelsea have agreed a €40m fee with Juventus for defender Daniele Rugani (Mediaset Premium)
Nikola Kalinic is hopeful of joining Atletico Madrid or Sevilla this summer but has not yet made a decision (Estadio Deportivo)
Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Sampdoria forward Duvan Zapata – a target of Atletico Madrid, Newcastle, Southampton and Jiangsu Suning (Calciomercato)