The £6.8m proof Man City are signing Grealish and Kane

Editor F365
Jack Grealish and Harry Kane

Some elements of the media really are absolutely desperate to see Manchester City sign both Jack Grealish and Harry Kane this summer.

 

Ivan the terrible
If Manchester City do sign Harry Kane and Jack Grealish, The Sun reporter Martin Blackburn will be due about half of the fee in commission.

He has been banging the drum incessantly that some sort of £225m double deal could be struck. And after the ‘clever’ machinations of Manchester City made the transfers almost certain on Thursday, there has been yet another boost.

Blackburn writes:

‘Manchester City are about to add another £6.8million to their summer transfer kitty by selling Serbian midfielder Ivan Ilic to Hellas Verona.

‘The 20-year-old has been on the books of the City Football Group for four years but never played a game for Pep Guardiola’s side.

‘And if the deal is completed, it will be another significant boost to their funds as they look to land Harry Kane and Jack Grealish.’

Kane and Grealish are pretty much destined for the Etihad. After all, Manchester City might be about to fetch £6.8m – or 3.02% of the supposed required £225m total. Yet ‘another significant boost’ there.

 

The Greal deal
The Daily Mirror have exhausted almost all the Jack Grealish avenues so are having to reach pretty far to bring any sort of update and keep those search engines happy.

Almost all avenues…

‘What Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thinks of Jack Grealish as Man City ‘open talks’ over transfer’

That he’s actually rubbish? That his calves aren’t really that impressive? The suspense is unbearable.

“He’s a player for Aston Villa and England who has only improved.”

Good lord. That is salacious.

“I don’t want to say too much about other teams’ players but of course he’s a player we know we have to look for.”

F***. So that’s what he really thinks. Or thought when he was asked on New Year’s Eve, when that quote was equally banal but eminently more relevant.

 

Jack off
That is one way of getting Grealish and Manchester United into the same headline at a time when both are making waves. If only someone could crowbar a mention of Liverpo…

‘Rio Ferdinand says Liverpool should make a sensational swoop for Manchester City target Jack Grealish… with Manchester United’s attacking options ‘ruling them out’ of a potential move’

Thank you for that, MailOnline.

Let’s at least hear Rio out.

“He’s just a phenomenal player. If I’m Liverpool, I’m going to get him. If I’m Man City, I’m taking him. Because he improves them. He improves Chelsea, 100 per cent. Whoever’s got the money to pay for him, do it. If Liverpool bought him it would be a bolt out of the blue. He improves them and then it’s like, “wow”‘.”

Wow indeed. He is certainly very good and Liverpool surely recognise that. Him joining them would be a genuine surprise. But “whoever’s got the money to pay for him” feels pertinent when discussing a club whose record signing was £75m and thus about £25m short of Grealish’s actual valuation.

Still, it’s a nice and very clicky thought.

 

Tiel a lie
It is a claim that is not even good enough to make the Liverpool Echo transfer blog, which tops the website and instead leads on the ‘Youri Tielemans latest’.

There is a single mention of the Belgian in this ‘transfer news LIVE blog,’ the entirety of which is below:

Leicester looking to sell a midfielder

‘Sadly, not Youri Tielemans.

‘Anyone like the look of Dennis Praet?

‘The report comes from Het Laatste Nieuws, who suggest that Tielemans is negotiating a new contract having returned to the East Midlands.

‘But the Foxes are open to selling fellow midfielder Dennis Praet at the right price, a player who suffered with injuries last season.’

That Het Laatste Nieuws report refers to Tielemans as ‘unsaleable’. And it is Leicester doing the negotiating. But otherwise, thanks for the headline-worthy update.

 

Klopps and kn*bbers
Perhaps they should venture over to the Daily Express website and their story on how ‘Mino Raiola called Jurgen Klopp ‘piece of s***’ in row before Liverpool offered Paul Pogba’.

That does make it sound as though Raiola interrupted an argument with Klopp specifically to ask whether he wanted to sign Pogba, but delving a little deeper shows that is unfortunately not the case.

Raiola called Klopp out in September 2016. Klopp rated the amount he was bothered by the comments as “0.0” soon after. And then Liverpool were reportedly offered Pogba just five short years later. Time really does fly.

 

Slasher film
The Sun have an update for us on Tammy Abraham.

‘Chelsea are ready to slash their asking price for Tammy Abraham after struggling to find any clubs willing to pay £40million.

‘The Blues are so keen to sell Abraham to help fund a move for another hitman they are reluctantly considering dropping the fee by £5m-plus.’

Not sure a 12.5% drop in valuation is anything close to a ‘slash’. It’s more of a nick or slight cut, really.

But where one leads, others absolutely have to follow:

‘Chelsea ‘ready to slash Tammy Abraham’s transfer price’ in huge boost for Arsenal’ – Daily Mirror.

‘Tammy Abraham to Aston Villa: Chelsea slash asking price, return chances, Arsenal ‘obligation” – Birmingham Mail.

‘Arsenal and West Ham on alert as Chelsea reluctantly ‘slash’ Tammy Abraham asking price’ – Daily Star.

Numerous outlets, none of whom are bothered to stop and wonder whether £40m to £35m is quite the drastic drop that was first reported.

 

Trophy strife
Elsewhere, David McDonnell has made the back page for the Daily Mirror with this story:

‘Big-spending Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he has no excuses if he fails to deliver silverware this season.’

Very good. No longer “an ego thing” then. These quotes should be interesting.

“As a manager, you can’t ask for more backing when you’ve got the two in as early as we have. Every manager would be happy the sooner and the earlier the deals are done. This year we’ve managed to get it sorted. The two we’ve got in will make a huge difference for us, this season short-term and also long-term. We’ve scrambled before towards the end of the window. Now I have to say I think we’re in a good position.”

Not a single mention of trophies, silverware, cups or the like. There is reading between the lines and there is seeing what you want to see regardless.

 

Like a Virgil
To both of the following:

‘Virgil van Dijk breaks silence after returning for Liverpool following nine months out injured’ – Daily Mirror.

‘Virgil van Dijk breaks silence on Liverpool injury return vs Hertha Berlin’ – Liverpool Echo.

The fella posted something on his Twitter less than an hour after full-time. And he has spoken pretty frequently about his injury in the months since it happened. Precisely what ‘silence’ was he ‘breaking’ on Thursday?