United still keen on De Jong despite contradicting statements

Contracts have been prepared for Christian Eriksen to sign a three-year deal to join Manchester United.

Eriksen has agreed in principle to the terms offered and has disappointed Brentford manager Thomas Frank who was hoping the Dane would lead his midfield in the coming season. United are still chasing Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong who they see as their main midfield target. However, no deal has been reached and negotiations continue.

Frenkie told Barcelona that he would reject any move to sell him but the club replied that he could only stay on a reduced salary because they could not afford to keep him and his remaining contract would mean Barca paying him £60million. He would also receive another £6.8million if he plays in 60 per cent of Barca’s games.

Reports coming out of the Nou Camp suggest that Barca President Joan Laporta will not sell De Jong because he is a big part of coach Xavi’s plans. However, in contradicting news, Laporta appeared to hint that the Catalan club could still be interested in selling him on the right terms.

United have been in talks with Barca for six weeks now and a fee of £70million appears to be Barca’s valuation of the Dutch player.

Chelsea still looking to sign six new players

The odds are against it but Chelsea could land one of the most gifted duos in football. Agents have approached new Blue’s co-owner Todd Boehly offering him the chance to sign both Cristiano Ronaldo and PSG’s Neymar. Ronaldo has asked United to consider any offers for him and PSG are open to selling the Brazilian.

Ronaldo has again voiced his disapproval that United have not significantly strengthened their squad after missing out on Champions League football for this season and he has never kicked a ball in the inferior Europa Cup.

There are whispers from inside Stamford Bridge that signing such high-profile players as Ronaldo or Neymar could unsettle the squad and this is certainly something going through Thomas Tuchel’s mind. The move for Neymar would cost Chelsea £600k-a-week in wages and Tuchel is not happy about that. Raphina is another possibility.

Having already said no to Tottenham and Arsenal, there is still a £55million bid on the table from Chelsea. New owner Todd Boehly and his partners have promised to bring in six new players over the summer so they can challenge the dominance of Man City and Liverpool. Matthijs de Ligt is Chelsea’s main defensive objective and have offered cash plus Timo Werner.

However, Juventus are still trying to keep him. Chelsea are hoping to take Raheem Sterling with them on their pre-season trip having agreed a £45million fee with Manchester City and wages of £325k a week making him the highest-paid Blue’s player.

Tottenham looking to offload players

There is a lot of work going on behind closed doors at Tottenham. With the arrival of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster they need to slim down their playing squad because the club can only submit 25 senior players for any competition which must consist of 17 non-local players and eight homegrown players.

Spurs could have done that a few months ago but now Dejan Kulusevski, Ryan Sessegnon and Oliver Skipp are no longer eligible to be listed as Under 21 and are therefore automatically regarded as seniors.

The situation is even more confused because Ben Davies, Matt Doherty and Joe Rodon are recognised as home players but not by the Champions League because they trained with foreign clubs.

All of that amounts to Antonio Conte’s hands being tied because he is not allowed to bring in fresh talent until players are sold because Tottenham are on the limit of their player allowances.

Conte is anxious to continue to strengthen his squad and behind the doors at White Hart Lane several assistants are working on deals to offload players Conte does not consider to be part of his plans.

Players being offered to other clubs include Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Harry Winks, Steve Bergwijn (who could go to Ajax), Bryan Gil, Joe Rodon and Jack Clarke. I am told that Spurs are also interested in receiving offers for Sergio Reguilon and Emerson Royal. 

Kante boost for Tuchel

14 Chelsea’s players arrived for training this week prior to their departure for a US training camp. Thomas Tuchel received a boost when N’Golo Kante arrived as the first international player back for duty. 31 year-old Kante had to leave the French squad early this year with

a bad knee injury which hampered his playing time and he returned home early. After a thorough examination by the Chelsea medical team N’Golo had a tough workout and declared himself fit. 

Mo is Liverpool’s highest paid player – ever!

Mo Salah said he was pleased that all the contract negotiations had been concluded and well he might. Mo became Liverpool’s highest paid player ever after agreeing a new deal worth over £350k per week. His new contract earns him that salary until 2025. Manager Jurgen Klopp was desperate to keep Mo after the departure of Sadio Mane to Germany. Liverpool’s Sporting Director Julian Ward even flew to Salah’s summer holiday location in Greece to finalise details. 

Carvalho is Liverpool’s new number 28

Fabio Carvalho arrived in Liverpool to join his new club on Tuesday and said he was delighted to join 'one of the biggest clubs in the world'. He joined other players for their first pre-season training session and the 19-year-old will wear the No28 shirt. The Portugese winger scored and impressive 10 goals in 36 matches for Fulham last season. 

Phillips on cloud nine at joining City

There is no doubt that Kalvin Phillips is overwhelmed with joy at joining Manchester City.

City are definitely going to lead the Premier League title race this coming season and

Kalvin has been talking excitedly about joining Kevin De Bryune and Erling Haaland. He said, “I have played against Kevin and had to mark him in a few games and I cannot wait to play alongside him. Erling is also amazing and his goal record speaks for itself. His finishing is unbelievable and he has been playing in a team that has done well. I know he is a nice lad because Jude Bellingham told me a lot about him.” 

Jesus wants to be the new Henry for Gunners

Gabriel Jesus is excited about the new season after teaming up again with Mikel Arteta. He played under the Arsenal boss at Manchester City when he was Pep Guardiola’s number two. The 25-year-old Brazilian striker has been given the No9 shirt and wants to become as famous to Arsenal fans as his idol legend Thierry Henry.

Jesus has joined the Gunners on a five-year contract. He has played in every frontline position for City but intends to make the No9 central striker his own at Arsenal. He said he followed Henry when playing as a youngster in South America and is clearly delighted to be rejoining Arteta.

He said: “I had a very good time with him before. We would always stick together after training sessions and do some finishing work to improve my technique. He taught me so much.” 

Lingard at crossroads

Jessie Lingard has to make a very important decision. Having wasted a number of years sitting on the bench at Manchester United, his next club is vitally important if he wants to get back into the England team.

He could rejoin West Ham and coach David Moyes would like to sign him. Jesse flew to America this week and is talking to two MLS teams. Everton are also interested but indications are that the Toffees are falling apart and he should not be tempted to join them.

Everton are up for sale but owner Farhad Moshiri said this week that the US-led consortium that included wealthy real estate tycoons and mining and investment companies had not led to anything positive. I am told that only the Kaminski Group remain as potential buyers.

With limited investment being made available to him, coach Frank Lampard is struggling and Jesse Lingard would cost them £150k-a-week or £7million a year. He would, however, come for free as his contract at Manchester United has expired. Lampard might also lose his talisman striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin as Newcastle are wielding their mighty checkbook in his direction.

As I told you last week, Antonio Conte is planning on coming back to Everton after signing Richarlison and this time it will be for Anthony Gordon the rising star in the Toffees’ ranks. 

At the moment I fear for Everton this coming season and if they lose both Calvert-Lewin and Gordon it will be very tough for them to survive after narrowly avoiding relegation last season.

Lampard’s right-hand man Duncan Ferguson has also handed in his notice and left Everton after a relationship with the club dating back nearly 30 years. Duncan wants to try his hand at management and feels that being on the market instead of remaining as No2 will further his career. 

Moyes looks to strengthen midfield

West Ham are still trying to capture the signature of Amadou Onana who plays for French club Lille. The midfielder is needed to add strength to David Moye’s midfield now that Mark Noble has retired and Alex Kral has returned to Spartak Moscow. Lille have refused West Ham’s initial approach and hope to keep Onana.

Villa invests in their fans

I understand that Aston Villa intend to redevelop Villa Park so that it will house crowds of up to 50,000. The club plan to build a new North Stand and improve the current Trinity Stand. There will also be new shops, bars, a restaurant and a community area. Villa want to turn the site into a year-round venue for fans to enjoy and will offer various events during the off-season. 

Oops! Big mistake Spurs

Someone in Tottenham’s backroom offices made a glorious error this week. The club wants to hire a ‘Partnership Development Manager’ which I understand means Spurs linking up with various companies to develop the club’s high profile.

They sent the job application requirements to a local job recruitment company and claimed Tottenham had 615million global followers. Oh dear, a big mistake I’m afraid. 615million people is roughly 1/12th of the world population and is just less than the entire population of Europe!