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Manchester City are reportedly not willing to pay the asking price to sign Brighton & Hove Albion defender Marc Cucurella.

What’s the latest?

According to a recent report in The Athletic from City journalist Pol Ballus, the Manchester club are not willing to meet Brighton’s £50m-plus asking price for the left-back and will instead focus on other players to sign in that position instead.

The report adds that City are “still interested in a deal for the defender, but are comfortable with signing someone else to play in that position if Brighton do not lower their demands.”

It was also reported by the same publication on Saturday that the Seagulls had ended their discussions with City over a potential deal involving Cucurella, despite claims that the player had put in a transfer request in an effort to force a move to Pep Guardiola’s side.

Guardiola will be fuming

Bearing in mind how impressive the full-back was during his debut campaign with Brighton last season, it’s easy to see why the Citizens are interested in signing him and why it would be bad news for Guardiola if they don’t sign him.

Specifically, the 24-year-old racked up more blocks (72), interceptions (72) and successful tackles (62) than any other Brighton player.

From an attacking point of view, he also delivered more crosses (94) than any of his current teammates as well as the third-highest number of dribbles attempted (59) and shot-creating actions made (78) in Graham Potter’s squad.

With the Premier League champions now rather light in terms of their current full-back options, signing another player for that position should be top priority for the club before the summer transfer window closes.

Now that it has been reported that City may not be willing to meet Brighton’s asking price for their star defender, this will surely have Guardiola rather angry, especially if the club don’t end up signing him.

Having spent the early part of his career in Barcelona’s youth ranks, this was surely one of the reasons that Guardiola would want the defender in his squad given his own obvious connections with the Spanish club.

If Brighton continue to stand their ground over Cucurella and the money they’d want for him, City will have to make a decision over whether they pay what the Seagulls want or move on to other options elsewhere.

Either way, this is a decision they need to make sooner rather than later.

AND in other news: Man City plotting swoop for “extraordinary” £102m-rated machine, he’s better than Dias

Fulham are in negotiations to sign AS Roma forward Justin Kluivert, according to an Italian report.

The Lowdown: Fresh start needed

The 23-year-old has never really been a part of Jose Mourinho’s plans since his arrival in the dugout last year. The Portuguese coach sent him straight out on loan to Nice upon his appointment, where he has been in ‘world class’ form (Jacek Kulig).

The attacker only has just under 12 months remaining on his contract in Serie A, leaving his future up in the air, and being so out of favour under the manager, a permanent exit is almost destined to happen.

There have been several clubs linked with a move for the Dutchman this window, including Premier League side West Ham, but it’s the Cottagers who have now emerged as a surprising suitor.

The Latest: Fulham in contact with Kluivert

Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb (via Sport Witness) report that Fulham are holding ‘ongoing contacts’ with Kluivert, but are set to face competition from Torino for his signature.

The source states that Marco Silva’s team are ‘keen’ and ‘pressing hard’ to secure his services, though there is currently ‘no mention’ of the fee that the Cottagers would be required to pay to land him.

It’s believed that the winger is ‘looking for a new adventure’ after accepting that he doesn’t fit Mourinho’s project, with Roma chief Tiago Pinto ‘working on a solution’ to find him a new home.

The Verdict: Exciting creative addition

Silva has already added both Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon to his attacking ranks this summer, but he clearly doesn’t want to stop there.

Kluivert, who sports journalist Josh Bunting hailed for causing PSG ‘problems’, was a real threat in the final third for Nice last season, averaging 1.5 successful dribbles and 1.3 key passes per game, as well as making nine goal contributions, via WhoScored.

Whether Roma’s asking price will match Fulham’s valuation yet remains to be seen, but if the opportunity is right, this is a fantastic creative move that the boss should look at getting wrapped up as soon as possible.

West Ham United have reportedly made a ‘concrete offer’ to sign Feyenoord defender Marcos Senesi.

The Lowdown: Moyes makes demand…

Despite the signings of Nayef Aguerd, Flynn Downes, Alphonse Areola, Gianluca Scamacca and Maxwel Cornet, it appears manager David Moyes is far from satisfied and expects more this summer.

The Hammers are reportedly chasing a new central defender on top of these names with the likes of Fenerbache star Atilla Szalai also on the agenda at West Ham.

The Premier League side are gearing up for their blockbuster opening game against champions Man City, and with a few weeks of the window remaining have little time to prepare beyond that.

The Latest: West Ham make ‘concrete’ offer…

As per a report from Italy, some Irons transfer news has surfaced as they eye a move for Senesi.

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According to TUTTOmercatoWEB, West Ham have placed a bid on the table to sign him – making a ‘concrete offer’ of €15 million (£13m) for the Argentine.

TMW add that Senesi ‘has been one of the most sought after defenders for several years’ as head of recruitment Rob Newman makes a move for the in-demand star.

The Verdict: Great option?

The centre-half has also been linked to Spanish giants Real Madrid in the past, perhaps highlighting his real quality as a player.

As per WhoScored, the 25-year-old made more blocks and interceptions per 90 than any of his regularly-playing teammates over 2021/2022 as West Ham attempt to sign a clearly combative defensive ace.

Senesi could well be one to watch before the closure of this transfer window.

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to the Premier League this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet CalcioMercatoWeb, who claim that, with all three of Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele and Pape Matar Sarr having either left or looking set to secure a move away from north London in the coming weeks, Antonio Conte is hoping to add a new central midfielder to his squad, with the Italian said to be an admirer of the SS Lazio playmaker.

The report then goes on to suggest that, although it has been widely reported that Fabio Paratici is targeting a move AS Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo in the current transfer window, the sporting director could now turn his attention towards the Serbia international, with Spurs thought to be preparing a bid totalling €60m (£50.5m) – including bonuses – for the 27-year-old midfielder.

Better than Zaniolo

While it is undeniable that Zaniolo would make a fantastic addition to Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur squad ahead of September’s transfer deadline, considering just how talented a player Milinkovic-Savic undoubtedly is, there is an argument to be made that the Serb could well be a much better target for Paratici to pursue than the Italy international.

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Indeed, when comparing their returns in the final third over the 2021/22 Serie A campaign, there is only one winner, with Milinkovic-Savic bettering Zaniolo in goals – 11 to two – assists – 11 to two – and big chances created – 11 to four – last season.

The £63m-rated Lazio midfielder also betters the Italian’s returns with the ball at his feet, completing more passes per 90 – 56.3 to 18.0 – making more progressive passes per 90 – 4.94 to 2.42 – and boasting a better pass completion rate per 90 – 81.9% to 71.4% – than the 23-year-old Roma playmaker last time out.

It is a similar story in defensive metrics, with the £95k-per-week talent once again besting Zaniolo in tackles made per 90 – 1.57 to 1.23 – blocks made per 90 – 1.51 to 0.73 – and interceptions made per 90 – 1.60 to 0.68 – last term.

As such, when considering that the player who CalcioLand podcast host David Amoyal dubbed “unreal” could be available for just €10m (£8.5m) more than the €50m (£42m) valued Zaniolo this summer, coupled with his more eye-catching returns last season, it is evident that Milinkovic-Savic would be a much better immediate fit for Conte’s Spurs squad this season – leading us to believe that Paratici must prioritise a move for the 27-year-old in the coming weeks.

Tottenham Hotspur could seal an exciting signing in Lucas Paqueta, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke…

What’s the word?

The Lyon midfielder has been linked with a move to north London in recent weeks after football.london reporter Alasdair Gold revealed that he was a player that the club have been ‘tracking for a while.’

It’s believed that the Ligue 1 outfit would sanction his exit should they receive an offer of around £33m.

And he’s a player that would certainly excite the Lilywhites faithful.

In an interview with Football FanCast, O’Rourke said:

“He’s got real pedigree as well – a Brazil international – so that would be a signing that would definitely get the Tottenham fans excited and I think that they are, maybe, building a side capable of challenging for honours.”

An exciting coup

Indeed, Paqueta would be an ideal end to a busy summer of business for manager Antonio Conte and sporting director Fabio Paratici.

Spurs are arguably in need of a creative option in the engine room and the Brazilian is capable of providing that and more.

“I think they are definitely looking at a creative playmaker, someone who can play as a number 10. I’ve said this a lot this summer, but they would like a player that could allow Conte the freedom to change from a 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 with an attacking midfielder,” Express journalist Ryan Taylor revealed to GIVEMESPORT.

Last season, for example, Paqueta provided his team with 11 goals and seven assists in all competitions and did so largely playing as a no.8 or no.10, as per Transfermarkt.

Such attacking exploits have seen him rank very favourably compared to his positional midfield peers across Europe.

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FBref reveal that the 24-year-old dynamo sits within the top 1% for total shots (3.06), non-penalty expected goals (0.35) and expected assists (0.25) per 90, as well as the top 2% for touches in the opposition’s box (4.13 per 90).

They also highlight his statistical profile as being similar to Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne and England sensation Jude Bellingham, which only backs up O’Rourke’s claim that he’d be a rather exciting signing for Tottenham to make.

Paqueta’s manager over at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Peter Bosz, believes he is “amazing” and “extraordinary,” whilst the club’s official Twitter account dubbed him an “absolute diamond” only last year.

On the above evidence, the Lyon maestro would certainly be a signing that gets Spurs supporters on the edge of their seat as he’s clearly capable of getting forward to contribute in the final third.

He evidently loves to get on the scoresheet and can assist the likes of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, so it’s on Paratici and co to get this move over the line.

AND in other news, Spurs dealt big injury blow ahead of Wolves…

Fulham are reportedly interested in signing Blackpool winger Josh Bowler this summer and the former Everton man could be a superb addition to Marco Silva’s squad.

What’s the word?

According to Ryan Taylor of The Express, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth are all in the race to sign the 23-year-old this summer after his superb performances in the Championship last term.

It has been previously reported that any deal for the tricky winger is likely to cost around £2.5m, although Blackpool could be forced to sell for cheaper if Bowler refuses a new deal with the club, as his current contract at Bloomfield Road is set to expire at the end of this season.

Would Bowler be a good signing?

Fulham’s focus this summer has seemingly been on improving the defence and midfield, with only Manor Solomon joining as a wide option thus far. This is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that Silva’s side scored 106 goals in the Championship last season, although they are now without Fabio Carvalho after he joined Liverpool.

The Cottagers have also started the season without the influential Harry Wilson, as the Wales international is sidelined with a knee injury, which suggests that Silva could do with another winger to choose from in his squad.

Bowler was in excellent form for Blackpool last season, contributing seven goals and three assists for the Tangerines as they comfortably stayed up in their first season back in the second tier.

In five games this season, the 23-year-old has scored one goal and averaged an impressive 7.08 rating from WhoScored for his performances, which is only bettered by Aleksandar Mitrovic in Fulham’s squad, which emphasises the quality he could add.

Everton coach David Unsworth was full of praise for Bowler during his time on Merseyside, saying:

“Josh Bowler was terrific. We need to get the ball to his feet in the final third and that’s where you see his magic.”

Indeed, Bowler would certainly be capable of moments of magic in Silva’s squad, as his shots per game average (3.8) is again only bettered by Mitrovic (5), while his dribbles per game average of 3.8 is far better than anyone in Fulham’s squad where Neeskens Kebano tops the tree with just 1.5.

Therefore, considering he is young, cheap and homegrown, Silva should definitely look at bringing Bowler to Craven Cottage this summer.

West Brom crashed out of the Carabao Cup in the second round on Tuesday night as they lost out 1-0 to Derby County at Pride Park.

Louie Sibley’s early goal was enough for Liam Rosenior’s side to progress against the Baggies, who missed a host of chances to equalise against their lower league opposition.

One man who disappointed in the defeat was former Sheffield Wednesday winger Adam Reach.

The 29-year-old was handed a rare opportunity to impress Steve Bruce after starting on the bench in each of the Championship fixtures thus far, but failed to take that opportunity.

As per SofaScore, Reach would earn a poor 6.2 rating for his performance on Tuesday night, which was the second-worst of any player on the pitch, with only Matt Phillips (6.1/10) rated lower.

The match did not start well for Reach as he was played in over the top in the opening minutes with Derby goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith in no man’s land, but he sent his effort way over the top.

During the game, Reach would lose possession a remarkable 22 times, which was the most of any player on the pitch by some distance, which emphasises how wasteful he was with the ball.

Bruce was relying on his wingers to provide quality crosses into the box but just one of Reach’s five crosses on Tuesday night would find its mark, while he was also successful with just two of his dribble attempts as he was regularly thwarted by Derby’s Kwaku Oduroh, who earned a strong 7.5 rating for his performance at right-back.

Reach was out-battled on a number of occasions, winning just five of his 15 duels in the game, resulting in a very disappointing 33% success rate.

The experienced attacker offered very little from an attacking perspective, with no key passes and no shots on target, which was lower than last season’s average of 1.1 key passes per game.

Therefore, it is clear that Reach wasn’t good enough on Tuesday night, and it would be a surprise to see him keep his place when Bruce’s side take on Huddersfield on Saturday afternoon.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta may well be light on midfield options for their Premier League clash with Aston Villa this evening…

What’s the latest?

Mohamed Elneny is the latest name to be struck down by a problem after the Egyptian midfielder suffered what The Athletic’s David Ornstein has described as a “significant injury” during the 2-1 win over Fulham on Saturday.

“Mohamed Elneny suffered significant injury vs Fulham. Arsenal awaiting full extent but 30yo expected to miss considerable spell. Partey also nursing (relatively minor) muscle issue so #AFC may look to recruit in midfield,” the reliable journalist tweeted.

Worrying blow

It would now appear that Arteta will be heading into tonight’s game with just two recognised central midfielders in the form of Granit Xhaka, who divides opinion on and off the pitch, and Albert Sambi Lokonga, who is still hugely inexperienced.

That’s because Elneny, who has been providing the backup to Partey, has joined the Ghanaian international on the treatment table this week, so that will surely leave the Spaniard worried heading into kickoff.

Summer signing Oleksandr Zinchenko could well shift over from left-back, considering it is his natural position, but he too missed the Fulham outing with his a knee issue.

When speaking about the potential of having either available in his pre-game press conference, Arteta did not sound very confident. “I don’t think so. We still have to make another scan, especially on Thomas but I don’t think they will be available,” he said (via the Evening Standard).

Both Partey and Zinchenko have been crucial to Arsenal’s red-hot – and unbeaten – start to the 2022/23 campaign with the pair ranking inside the top-six best performers, per WhoScored ratings.

Elneny, meanwhile, has been a solid replacement whenever called upon – he managed a 98.1% passing accuracy against Fulham and has been described as “really important” by Arteta in the past.

So, heading into tonight, the Spanish head coach will surely be worried by this mounting midfield injury crisis at London Colney and just as Ornstein claims, they may well need to dip their toes back into the transfer window to solve the problem.

AND in other news, Arsenal could land “outrageous” 6th signing with £17m bargain who’s “destined” to join…

Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a largely successful summer transfer window, with Fabio Paratici managing to bring in a number of impressive signings who either provide Antonio Conte with greater squad depth or improve upon a player Spurs already owned in a particular position.

Indeed, with the likes of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Djed Spence, Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster and Clement Lenglet all joining the club, as well as Paratici completing the permanent signing of Cristian Romero, the 52-year-old manager would now very much look to have the depth he infamously claimed he was lacking during the 2021/22 campaign.

However, with Tottenham’s only new addition at centre-back – a position it was widely reported Conte was extremely keen to strengthen this summer – being the season-long loan signing of Lenglet, it would appear highly likely that Paratici will once again be on the lookout for a permanent addition to Spurs’ backline over the course of the season.

As such, there is an argument to be made that the Italian sporting director should have pursued a deal for one of his defensive targets with slightly more urgency this summer – and, considering just how impressive Gleison Bremer has been for Juventus so far this season, it appears Paratici missed a trick in deciding against launching a £43m bid for the Brazilian.

Indeed, over his six Serie A appearances so far in 2022/23, the £31.5m-rated talent has been in imperious form in the heart of Massimiliano Allegri’s backline, helping his side keep two clean sheets, as well as making an average of 2.0 interceptions, one tackle, 3.7 clearances and winning 4.3 duels – at a success rate of 62% – per game.

The £153k-per-week centre-back has also impressed with the ball at his feet, enjoying an average of 83.3 touches of the ball, completing 66.7 passes – at a success rate of 93% – and finding his man with 4.0 long balls per game, in addition to having found the back of the net once.

These returns have seen the player who Ryan Taylor dubbed both “unbelievable” and “faultless” average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.28, not only ranking him as Juventus’ joint second-best performer in the league but also as the joint 15th-best player in the top flight of Italian football as a whole.

As such, with Bremer quite clearly being a player who is extremely solid at the back, exceptional in his reading of the game and incredibly talented with the ball at his feet, Paratici must regret his decision not to make a move for the 25-year-old defender this summer – as the Brazilian would have undoubtedly been an unbelievable signing for the Italian to get over the line.

Glasgow Rangers enjoyed a busy summer of business in the transfer window as Ross Wilson looked to improve a number of positions in the team.

The Light Blues sporting director backed Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the market by signing John Souttar, Ridvan Yilmaz, Malik Tillman, Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence, Antonio Colak, and Rabbi Matondo.

This means that they brought in a player in every position other than right-back and goalkeeper, with the latter perhaps coming as a surprise after Allan McGregor’s performances last season.

The veteran shot-stopper showed signs of his age catching up with him in the Premiership in 2021/22 as he made four errors directly leading to shots or goals and only saved 66% of the shots against him, compared to one error and a save percentage of 85% in the title-winning campaign the year prior to that.

His form dropped massively between those two seasons and, after turning 40 in January, supporters could be forgiven for thinking that he should have been replaced in the window.

Instead, he was handed a new contract and made the number two behind Jon McLaughlin, who was already at Ibrox, for the start of this season.

The former Burton man failed to step up to the mark in the first six outings in the Scottish top-flight this term as he averaged a dismal SofaScore rating of 6.50 and made one error directly leading to a goal whilst conceding from 50% of the shots against him.

With question marks over both McLaughlin and McGregor, it is time for van Bronckhorst to finally unleash 24-year-old Robby McCrorie between the sticks.

He was recently called up to the Scottish national squad and manager Steve Clarke claimed that he is “improving” as a player, despite being in a difficult situation as the third choice at Ibrox.

Journalist Josh Bunting tipped him to be Scotland’s future number one and described him as a “big talent” last year, which he showed signs of when he was called into action against Celtic with Steven Gerrard at the helm at the start of last season.

The 6 foot 4 colossus kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win in the Old Firm, saving all three of the shots against him and earning a SofaScore rating of 7.4. He also kept a shutout in a Europa League qualifier, which means that he has not conceded a single goal in any of his first-team appearances for the club.

Therefore, the £3.7k-per-week gem must finally be given an extended run in the team to show that he has what it takes to be a consistent number one for the club.

McGregor and McLaughlin are struggling between the sticks and it could be time for a natural changing of the guard in goal for the Light Blues, with the Scottish youngster taking over the gloves this season.