Gossip: Man United want Dier, Liverpool have £100m

MANCHESTER UNITED TARGET DIER
We have been waiting for this one. And The Sun have delivered. According to Neil Ashton, ‘JOSE MOURINHO wants to kick off a massive summer spending spree by signing Eric Dier’. As suspected, he is the ‘man to succeed Michael Carrick in the centre of his midfield’. He will cost upwards of £40m.

Ashton goes on to state the bleeding obvious: ‘Word is out that a striker, central midfielder and a classy centre-half are top priorities for Manchester United.’ You don’t say. Next you’ll be telling us he wants Antoine Griezmann. Oh, you have…

Shuffling out of the door are expected to be Luke Shaw, as well as Louis van Gaal man Daley Blind. Anthony Martial will stay with Mourinho apparently convinced that he will ‘come good’.

 

LIVERPOOL HAVE  MONEY BUT…
According to The Times, Liverpool are not short of money to spend this summer (they mention the sum of £100m), there is a worry that they do not have the ‘pulling power’ of their rivals. So no matter how much they might want Virgil van Dijk – and would be willing to spend £50m – they will miss out to either Chelsea or Manchester City.

Paul Joyce writes: ‘That Chelsea boast Willian and Diego Costa, and City and Arsenal have İlkay Gündoğan and Alexis Sánchez serves to illustrate how Liverpool have been viewed in recent seasons. All those players were discussed by Liverpool and, in some cases, bids submitted, but they went to rivals instead.’

The targets named by The Times for this summer are Red Bull Leipzig’s Naby Keita, AS Monaco’s Tiemoue Bakayoko and Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. None of which will join Liverpool.

 

CHELSEA TO PAY HAZARD 300K A WEEK
With Real Madrid reportedly ready to spend £100m on making Eden Hazard the world’s most expensive player, Chelsea are reportedly willing to make the Belgian the Premier League’s best-paid footballer on £300,000 a week. At least that’s what The Sun claim on their back page. But as the byline is that of a man who does not actually exist (Carl Long) we shall retain a level of cynicism.

You will have read elsewhere that Chelsea have made Alexis Sanchez their man summer target.

 

AND THE REST
Barcelona are set to beat Chelsea to the signing of PSG midfielder Marco Verratti…Tiemoue Bakayoko brother and agent says the player has “always dreamed of joining Paris St-Germain”…West Ham manager Slaven Bilic will not be offered a new contract this summer, when he enters the last 12 months of his three-year deal…Manchester United are monitoring Celtic’s 19-year-old left-back Kieran Tierney…Tottenham midfielders Erik Lamela, 25, and Moussa Sissoko, 27, are both targets for a number of Serie A clubs…Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are all interested in Villarreal winger Samuel Castillejo.