It’s not often Newcastle are mentioned high up in the Mill, but don’t get excited Toon fans, you’re not splashing the cash. In a move that would likely make Rafa Benítez go all shades of purple if it were allowed to happen, captain Jamaal Lascelles has been linked with Lazio. The 2019 Coppa Italia winners are weighing up a bid for the £30m-rated centre-back and would be willing to offer left-back Jordan Lukaku – brother of Romelu – as a sweetener. Mike Ashley usually takes whatever cash he’s offered to fund his hobby of being the saviour of the great British high street, so don’t be surprised to see Lascelles wearing sky blue this summer. If it doesn’t happen, the Serie A club will throw in a sneaky £12.5m bid for Fulham’s Calum Chambers instead.
Sticking with Italy, Inter have agreed personal terms with Romelu Lukaku and now need Manchester United to accept a £62m bid for the striker they signed for £75m only two years ago. To be fair, United have made bigger losses and they can always sign another official noodle partner or something to soften the financial blow. Paul Pogba may line up against Lukaku in Italy next year if Juventus get their way. They’ve sent their sporting director, Fabio Paratici, to London to sweet-talk United into letting their Instagram sensation leave. And while he’s in London, Paratici will also have discussions with Chelsea about a compensation package for Maurizio Sarri. He may even visit Madame Tussauds if the queues are reasonable.
But don’t worry United fans, you’re still leading the race to sign Bruno Fernandes from Sporting as a potential replacement. The 24-year-old box-to-box midfielder has been linked with pretty much every team in Europe, with Manchester City and Liverpool joining the race in the past few days. But the Lisbon club would still rather accept £70m from Old Trafford beancounters than anyone else.
Nabil Fekir was so close to joining Liverpool last summer that he recorded a welcome video with the club before a disagreement over his value and injury history led to the transfer’s collapse. Rumours are circulating that the deal is going to be revived but Liverpool don’t seem as interested in the Lyon playmaker as their fans would like them to be and it seems they would be willing to go no higher than €30m for a player the Ligue 1 club values at €50m.
Having done nothing but sign tricky whelps for the past two years, Borussia Dortmund presumably want to get their squad’s average age up. They’ll do this by scooping up dusty old Arsenal artefact Laurent Koscielny and plonking the 33-year-old in the centre of their defence in the hope that he will be able to wind the clocks back five years and plug the holes that did for their Bundesliga title challenge last season.
Everton plan to show they could probably win Ligue 1 if they were in it by outbidding PSG for Ajax’s Brazilian forward David Neres. The 22-year-old’s preferred destination is the Premier League and Ajax would be more than happy to take £35m off the Toffees for him.
For some reason the Mill can’t fathom, Roma are weighing up a move for Liverpool’s Loris Karius. Oh, and for some other reason the Mill can’t fathom, Stoke want Joe Hart.