Gossip: Manchester battle for midfielder; Allardyce out

MANCHESTER BATTLE FOR SERI
Both Manchester United and Manchester City are prioritising the signing of a holding midfielder this summer; that inevitably puts them on what the Manchester Evening News insist on calling a ‘collision course’. First they both wanted Shakhtar Donetsk’s Fred, and now it seems Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri is the man.

Both clubs are said to have ‘registered an interest’ in Seri, who is also a target for Barcelona and Liverpool. The Ivory Coast man could have the choice to be the long-term successor of Fernandinho, Michael Carrick, Lucas Leiva or Sergio Busquets. What a choice.

 

JESUS TURNS DOWN DEAL
You cannot blame Gabriel Jesus and his representatives for looking around the Manchester City squad and deciding that the Brazilian should be paid more than the £90,000 a week currently on offer. After all, that’s roughly the same as Fabian Delph and that simply will not do.

We imagine Jesus – who scored for Brazilin in Germany on Tuesday night – sees himself more in the £120,000-a-week bracket along with the likes of Bernardo Silva. He will wait until after the World Cup to make a decision on his future, according to the Mail.

 

ALLARDYCE OUT OF EVERTON?
We suspected this might happen but now John Cross has gone big in the Daily Mirror on the claim that Everton will ditch Sam Allardyce this summer and replace him with Shakhtar Donetsk’s Paulo Fonseca, who is just 45 and seen as a long-term appointment.

In what is described as a ‘massive shake-up’, Steve Walsh is also likely to leave, with PSV Eindhoven’s ‘transfer guru’ Marcel Brands coming in to oversee another summer of spending as Everton attempt once again to bridge the gap to the top six.

 

AND THE REST
Norwich want £25m for Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton target James Maddison…Real Madrid are interested in signing Roma’s Brazil international goalkeeper Alisson…Newcastle have been scouting Besiktas midfielder Oguzhan Ozyakup