Gossip: Man Utd close in on Spurs pair, Lewandowski chase

Matt Stead

SPURRED ON
Do you want the good news or the bad news first, Tottenham fans?

In fact, sod it: you can have the good news first. And that is the claim that Harry Kane will be staying ‘for at least one more season’.

The bad news? Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose are both probably going to leave, and Manchester United are at the front of the queue for the pair.

Neil Ashton of The Sun says that United are ‘plotting a summer move for both key defenders’, thus picking apart the great north London Busby Babes. Shame.

Alderweireld is unhappy at the club’s latest offer of a £110,000-a-week contract, and wants closer to £140,000. The ‘incentive’ for Tottenham to cash in is that a clause in Alderweireld’s deal means he can be sold for as little as £25million.

As for Rose, the left-back ‘wants’ to move to Old Trafford, but United must first get rid of Shaw. Rose really did lose the battle to Mauricio Pochettino, didn’t he?

But of course, back to Kane. Ashton says the striker ‘is tempted’ to leave for ‘the biggest stage’ at some point, but is ‘determined’ to stay and lead Tottenham into their new stadium. He will then consider their title credentials before making a ‘crunch decision’ on his future.

 

GOODBYE, MY LEWA
Robert Lewandowski has been linked with a Premier League move ever since that bloody volcanic ash cloud scuppered his dreams of joining Blackburn. So the update from Bleacher Report that Chelsea want him comes as no surprise.

The Bayern Munich striker recently dropped his agent and employed the services of yer man Pini Zahavi, who has been conducting transfer deals since the dawn of time. Bleacher say Lewandowski is ‘open’ to a summer move, and this is a pretty big indication.

Real Madrid would be heavily interested, but a deal with Chelsea ‘may not be quite so painful’. The Blues are reportedly still looking for a striker, despite spending almost £75m on Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud.

Other Premier League clubs linked include Liverpool (‘but at this stage it would seem a strange thing to do’), Manchester United (‘this is the one transfer window when a linkup just doesn’t seem possible’), and Manchester City (Pep Guardiola is looking for someone new to fill the Sergio Aguero role – yet signing a player about to turn 30 wouldn’t seem logical in such a scenario. His eventual replacement is more likely to be someone in his mid-20s.)

 

AND THE REST
Chelsea have become favourites to sign 26-year-old Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli, with Arsenal and Manchester United also interested… Barcelona are concerned a rival club could meet 30-year-old Argentina forward Lionel Messi’s £625m release clause… However, the La Liga giants are not interested in re-signing Spain right-back Hector Bellerin, 22, from Arsenal this summer… Barca will compete with rivals Real Madrid to sign Bayern Munich’s Austria full-back David Alaba, 25… German champions Bayern have joined Arsenal and Tottenham in the race for Bordeaux’s 21-year-old Brazilian winger Malcom… Arsenal, Leicester and Southampton are considering a move for Basel’s Mohamed Elyounoussi. The 23-year-old Norway striker scored against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.