Lionel Messi may be gritting his teeth having agreed to endure another season of high politics, sound and fury at Barcelona, but his fellow forward Luis Suárez may finally be off to pastures new. At least according to the Spanish outlet RMC, which reports that the Uruguayan is off to Atlético Madrid, having agreed to terminate his contract at the Camp Nou. It would be something of a coup for Atlético, Juventus having widely been seen as the front-runners for his signature. Suárez had even gone to Perugia last week (hadn’t everyone?) and passed an Italian exam that enabled him to acquire dual citizenship, but delays in getting his passport and Juve’s inability to bring in any more non-EU players appear to have scuppered the deal.
A move for Suárez would enable Atlético to send Álvaro Morata back Juve on loan, and Diego Simeone to pair the former Liverpool striker with Diego Costa up front. On his way out of the Wanda Metropolitano might be the right-back Santiago Arias, who is the subject of serious interest from free-spending, freewheeling Everton. The Liverpool Echo reports that the club are in talks to sign the Colombian international, who found himself squeezed out of the first-team reckoning last term and made only 14 appearances.
José Mourinho continues to indulge his new-found affection for attacking footballers by registering an interest in the Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst. The 28-year-old Netherlands international, who has managed a goal every other game in his two years with the Bundesliga club, is the subject of “serious interest” from Tottenham, according to Dutch media, with Spurs wanting to seal a deal by the end of this week.
Never mind this window, what about next summer’s? L’Equipe are serving notice that it will heavily feature a three-way tug of love over Kylian Mbappé between Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid. The English and Spanish champions are both reported to be in regular contact with the France and Paris Saint-Germain striker, while the thought has also occurred to Manchester United – spooked by their convincing defeat by Crystal Palace – that Mbappé could be what they’re looking for. United are also making eyes at Dominic Calvert-Lewin after the Everton forward’s stunning start to the campaign but the Toffees would want £80m.
Southampton need a bit of a pick-me-up after their weekend shellacking by Spurs and they might find one in the form of Benfica’s defensive midfielder Florentino Luís, whom they are apparently poised to pluck from under the admiring gazes of Milan and Fulham.
And Leeds may be lighting up the top flight again with their harem-scarem 4-3 scorelines but their defending thus far would have drawn tuts of disapproval from the club’s famous stoppers of yore. With that in mind, Marcelo Bielsa has got on the blower to Brighton again and asked for a second time about reinforcing his back line with the teenage centre-back Haydon Roberts, according to the Daily Star. The Seagulls apparently want £800,000 minimum.