Move along. There’s little or nothing to see here. The eagerly awaited return of the Champions League means transfer tittle-tattle takes a back seat in today’s back pages, although speculation does abound over how much Aaron Ramsey will be trousering when he heads to Juventus in the summer. The Arsenal and Wales midfielder has signed a pre-contract agreement with Juventus and while some reports suggest he’ll be getting an eye-watering £400,000 per week over four years, others say he’ll be forced to get by on a paltry £250,000 stipend once the Italian taxman gets his cut.
Meanwhile in China, the former Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini has revealed he passed up the opportunity to sign for Paris Saint-Germain last summer, before heading to Shandong Luneng in January. The Belgian will come up against Marek Hamsik in the Chinese Super League if the Slovakian can get his transfer to Dalian Yifang over the line. Hamsik was left out of Napoli’s squad to face Fiorentina last weekend and instead went to Madrid to conduct a medical. His transfer will be completed in the next day or two if the two clubs can iron out the nitty-gritty of the payment plan for his £17m fee.
Chelsea look likely to miss out on Eintracht Frankfurt striker Luka Jovic, the 21-year-old Serb who has banged in 19 goals for the Bundesliga outfit this season. On loan from Benfica, Jovic is ready to sign for Barcelona, despite interest from the English side, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. In other news, Chelsea midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko has put the horror show that was his brief time in England behind him and is eager to make his loan move to Milan, where he has gone a long way towards restoring his reputation, permanent. To make it happen, Milan may have to give Chelsea their 22-year-old Ivorian midfielder Franck Kessié in return.
Also out on loan from Chelsea, Kenedy isn’t exactly covering himself in glory at Newcastle and will be sold by his parent club in the summer unless his form improves. “He has the potential, we have seen that, so it is not someone telling you,” said Rafael Benítez of the Brazilian in the build-up to his side’s game against Wolves. “We have seen here how good he is, and he has to go back to his level.”
And finally, Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt has become something of a Rumour Mill staple in recent months and the latest speculation suggests Juventus are in the box-seat to sign the 19-year-old ahead of Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool.