Gossip: Mourinho wants a ‘statement signing’

Matt Stead

For those of you who still deem football transfer gossip important on a day such as today, here goes…

 

MOURINHO SEEKS ‘STATEMENT SIGNING’
‘Jose Mourinho is confident Manchester United will make a statement signing during his first summer transfer window,’ reports Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News. Would that not be Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Not in the Portuguese’s eyes, apparently.

Nope, Mourinho wants to make a signing that ‘will make everyone sit up straight’: Paul f***ing Pogba. Yawn.

The signing of the French midfielder has been ‘prioritised’, even to the extent that a deal for Miralem Pjanic was vetoed. Even then, Mourinho ‘is pessimistic’ about United’s chances of signing the 23-year-old amid intense competition and Juventus’ demand for a world-record fee.

Luckhurst gives us a few more tidbits: Mourinho wants to sign four players; Ibrahimovic is expected to become one now Sweden are out of Euro 2016; a move for Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still in the works; he wants a right midfielder, a striker and a central midfielder.

 

MORE ON MKHITARYAN
With regards to Mkhitaryan, German publication Kicker brings us an update.

Borussia Dortmund want £30.6m for the forward, basically. Or, at the very least, ‘the last inhibitions could fall’ with regards to him moving if the German club receive such an offer.

With a year remaining on his contract and the Armenian refusing to extend his contract, Dortmund must cash in now or lose him for free. To be fair, losing a key asset for free is something they have not been averse to in the past.

Mkhitaryan wants to join United. United apparently want Mkhitaryan. But they will have to make a big offer. Poor things.

As an aside, Kicker add that Andre Schurrle could replace the 27-year-old at Dortmund.

 

ALL ABOUT THE MANE
The final bit of news comes from Chris Bascombe of the Daily Telegraph, who informs us that Liverpool intend to push forward with a deal for Sadio Mane.

The Reds have emerged as the frontrunners to sign the Southampton forward, and ‘they seek to complete a £30m deal’ soon.

Jurgen Klopp has turned his attention to the Senegalese after seemingly missing out on Mario Gotze, and a ‘formal approach’ has been made. Negotiations are ongoing.

Bascombe even claims that Liverpool will try to push the deal through ‘within the next seven days’, but it is expected that it will take longer. After all, Southampton must still appoint a new manager.

 

AND THE REST
Juventus boss Massimo Allegri is keen on Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, according to reports…Roma have turned down a £28million offer from Manchester United for defender Kostas Manolas, according to reports in Italy…Aston Villa have rejected Celtic’s opening bid of £2m for winger Scott Sinclair…Manchester City are looking to offer around £6m for Croatia international Ante Coric; Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham have all expressed interest in the Dinamo Zagreb midfielder…Stoke have offered nearly £20m for Napoli forward Manolo Gabbiadini…Wales defender Chris Gunter is wanted by Premier League duo Swansea and Middlesbrough following his heroics at Euro 2016…Liverpool will have to pay £12m to prise Scotland international defender Andy Robertson away from Hull…Liverpool could reportedly reignite their pursuit of Neven Subotic. Jurgen Klopp worked with the 27-year-old defender during his time at Borussia Dortmund.