Gossip: Kante, Payet, Schmeichel, Forster

Ian Watson

UNITED JOIN KANTE CHASE
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is supposedly ready to pay £22m for Leicester midfielder N’Golo Kante.

That is the claim from the Sunday Mirror, who say United will happily stump up the required amount to activate the France international’s release clause.

Chelsea, PSG and Arsenal are also interested and it would be negligent of United not to be monitoring Kante’s situation, given the lack of steel at the base of their midfield. The jury is still out on Morgan Schneiderlin, who was often omitted from his XI by Louis van Gaal in favour of Marouane Fellaini.

The Sunday Telegraph, though, reports that Leicester will offer Kante £100,000 a week to reject whatever other offers come his way and stay with the champions for at least another season. Matt Law says Kante’s release clause is ‘complicated’ and a £60,000-a-week pay rise may tempt the 25-year-old to stay.

 

CHELSEA MAKE PAYET ENQUIRY
Chelsea have reportedly been told Dimitri Payet will cost the £60million.

The Sunday Express repeats a claim from Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio that the Blues have made an enquiry to establish what it would take for West Ham to be tempted to sell their star man.

Presumably that figure was thought up to frighten off Chelsea because the prospect of West Ham going to the Olympic Stadium without their main attraction seems highly unlikely.

Only six months ago, Payet signed a new deal with the Hammers worth £125,000 a week.

 

KOEMAN’S KEEPER CONUNDRUM
With T-Ho heading back to the MLS and Joel Robles being not very good, prospective Everton boss Ronald Koeman is reportedly eyeing a new goalkeeper. The papers can agree on that, at least…

Who that new keeper may be is another thing entirely. Joe Hart and Ajax’s Jasper Cillessen have been linked in recent days but The Sunday People reports that Koeman sees Kasper Schmeichel as a realistic target.

Like all their top players, Schmeichel is set to receive an improved contract offer from Leicester, and it is hard to see why the 29-year-old would swap a Champions League campaign for Everton at this stage.

So perhaps Fraser Forster might be a better bet. The Sunday Express reports Koeman will take the England back-up with him to Goodison, though details and a byline are woefully lacking in their story published online.

 

AND THE REST
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s planned move to Man Utd is being held up by his desire to play for Sweden at the Olympics…Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would cost Man City a British record fee of £65m…Former City manager Manuel Pellegrini has been linked with AC Milan…Liverpool want £10m for Swansea target Joe Allen…Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason is a target for Stoke and Hull…Juventus lead the race for Romelu Lukaku…Crystal Palace could replace Emmanuel Adebayor and Marouane Chamakh with Khouma Babacar of Fiorentina and Villarreal’s Cedric Bakambu…Spurs believe they are close to securing an £11m deal for Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama…West Ham are on the trail of Celta Vigo star Nolito…Leicester have approached Sevilla over a deal for centre-back Adil Rami.

Real Madrid are pushing David de Gea to make his mind up about a move to the Bernabeu…Fenerbahce boss Vitor Pereira is in the running for the Southampton job…Pep Guardiola wants Jerome Boateng to come back to Manchester City…Jurgen Klopp is monitoring Argentina right-back Gabriel Mercado…Liverpool want to use Jordon Ibe to tempt Southampton to sell Senegalese star Saido Mane…Patrick Bamford is looking to leave Chelsea on another loan and may try his luck in Spain…Blackburn boss Owen Coyle hopes to beat Ipswich to the signing of Liam Feeney…Liverpool have offered £9.5m for Udinese’s Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski.

Edinson Cavani has rejected a £500,000-a-week move to China…Mark Warburton looks likely to remain as Rangers manager despite talks over a new contract collapsing…Roma are preparing a move for Newcastle midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum…Arsenal are weighing up a £15m swoop for Albania ace Elseid Hysaj…Manchester City are set to cause a storm down under after pulling strings to sign Melbourne City’s Aaron Mooy…City’s Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta could follow former manager Manuel Pellegrini to Italy if he joins AC Milan…Juventus are set to sign Roma’s Miralem Pjanic for £30m after triggering a release clause in the 26-year-old’s contract…Manchester City are reportedly confident of wrapping up a deal to sign Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte this week.