Transfer rumours LIVE – Latest deals and links on Tuesday

The tow clubs have agreed a fee of £31.64m (split between £27.42m + £4.22m in add ons). The midfielder has signed a four-year deal at the Emirates, with the option for a further 12 months.

Merino becomes Arsenal’s fourth signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Tommy Setford and Riccardo Calafiori, as well as the permanent acquisition of David Raya. 

Fabrizio Romano reports that Forest are now focusing more on Santiago Gimenez of Feyenoord as their striker signing. Forest’s latest proposal was for a fee of €33m with add-ons, making it a club record sale for Feyenoord.

Romano added that Gimenez is “open to the move”, but it is “now up to the clubs again” to iron out the terms of a deal.

More recently, Ben Jacobs reports that “Forest are close to a £30m agreement with Feyenoord” for the Mexican striker.

Fabrizio Romano says that Manuel Ugarte and his team have approved the personal terms for his potential move to Manchester United this summer.

The midfielder will be signed to a five-year contract with an option for further year. Paris Saint-Germain will have a sell-on clause included in package worth €35m plus €10m add-ons.

West Ham transfer rumours
Plenty still going on at West Ham ahead of the window closing on Friday.

The London club are still chasing PSG midfielder Carlos Soler, with talks ongoing between the clubs, and reports are also linking them with former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who is currently at Roma.

Several players could leave the Hammers too, with James War-Prowse, Maxwel Cornet and Nayef Aguerd all up for sale. Defender Kurt Zouma has seen a move to UAE club Shabab Al-Ahly fall through, though there is interest from Saudi in the Frenchman, report Sky.

 

                                                                                                                                                                      

How Ilkay Gundogan came to reunite with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City – and what might come next. 

Ilkay Gundogan was the creator who became captain. Now he is the confidant who could become a coach. Pep Guardiola rarely re-signs players but he broke a personal rule to be reunited with the German. They are the neighbours who may be found side by side in a dugout in the future.

Gundogan was Guardiola’s first signing for Manchester City; should the manager leave when his contract expires next summer, he may prove his last, as well. But even then, their alliance could be renewed. They were separated for a year when Gundogan joined Barcelona. Perhaps it gave Guardiola a mole in the Catalan camp. Certainly each had a sounding board. And it meant that, when Gundogan mooted the idea of the summer’s most sensational comeback, he was confident of the answer.

“We were in touch throughout last year,” Gundogan said. “We had more than a couple of phone calls. I went to his childhood club and he’s still a big fan of FC Barcelona, he doesn’t make a secret out of it because he’s from there and it’s the club he loves.

“And when I put it out there, the idea, he loved it, and he said, ‘let’s try to do it’. From there, everything happened very quickly.” 

                                                                                                                                                                      

Chelsea or Saudi for Osimhen? 

Napoli’s Victor Osimhen has long been a rumored target for Chelsea, who have agreed a deal to sell Romelu Lukaku to the Italian club.

And it has been expected that, following the completion of that deal, Chelsea would swoop for the Nigerian striker.

However, Sky Sports reports that “interest remains from an Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli for Victor Osimhen, who are pushing hard to sign the Napoli striker”.

In addition, “it is likely that a club-to-club agreement can be reached on more satisfactory terms than Chelsea and PSG”.

Nevertheless, the report adds that for Al Ahli, “it might be more difficult to reach an agreement with Osimhen” himself.

“Interested clubs are thought to holding on until the final few days as they sense Napoli may get desperate to sell,” adds Sky.