Sancho to leave Man Utd, Newcastle raid Chelsea: Rumoured summer transfers that will happen

We are able to feed our families with nonsense transfer stories but the stuff we write about does come to fruition…sometimes. Here are 10 current transfer rumours we think will actually happen.

There will be no tapping in like Fabrizio Romano here. So no saying we think Riccardo Calafiori is definitely going to join Arsenal and getting arrested by the celebration police when it happens.

Manuel Ugarte – Paris Saint-Germain to Manchester United
The reported agreement of personal terms always fills us with confidence that a deal will be finalised. Saying that, these days you will see contact with a player’s representatives come weeks before any club-to-club dialogue, which is wrong if truth be told.

Man Utd appear to have identified PSG’s Manuel Ugarte as their top target for midfield and personal terms are agreed. Sales appear to be what is stopping a deal from advancing further, with Scott McTominay one of the names we can expect to depart.

Should the Red Devils fail to land Ugarte, they will probably turn to 2023/24 loanee Sofyan Amrabat, who they opted against signing from Fiorentina for £20million and will try to negotiate a lower fee if they decide he would be a useful signing.

Mikel Merino – Real Sociedad to Arsenal
Negotiations between Real Sociedad and Arsenal do not appear to be underway yet but they should be fairly smooth if recent reports are anything to go by. It has been claimed that the Spanish side would be willing to sell for £21m and the Gunners are more than happy to meet that valuation. There will probably be some haggling from the buying side but an agreement should be reached.

Barring a hijack from Barcelona, some disastrous negotiating from Edu Gaspar or some convincing from Atletico Madrid, you can expect to see Merino in an Arsenal kit next month.

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Nico Williams – Athletic Bilbao to Barcelona
This is painful as an Arsenal fan desperate to see his club sign Williams. It looks like he is very keen to join Barcelona and that desire means the Gunners aren’t really trying to make it happen. There were plenty of links during Euro 2024 but it appears to be between Barcelona and PSG, who are in the background and as much in this transfer race as Tottenham were in the Premier League title race last season.

Williams is the real deal and that much is clear by Barca’s efforts to bring him in. They are in a financial crisis and have been for years but are willing to cripple themselves even more to bring in Lamine Yamal’s Spain team-mate. The pair lit up Euro 2024 and would instantly put the Blaugrana in the Champions League picture.

Xavi Simons – Paris Saint-Germain to Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich love nabbing players from inferior Bundesliga clubs and while Simons is technically a PSG player, he was on loan at RB Leipzig last term and they are desperate to keep him for another.

For some bizarre reason, PSG have no plans to keep him for 2024/25 and Bayern are all over it like a rash. So they should be. And they are in a strong position to make it happen.

Kieran Trippier – Newcastle United to Saudi Arabia
When looking to confirm the Trippier links to Saudi Arabia, I was flooded with stories of him and his wife holidaying 800 miles apart. Oh, the humanity.

Issues in Trippier’s personal life might see him make the move to the Middle East and Newcastle should be open to letting it happen given his dramatic drop-off in form. Tino Livramento is the man who should be starting right-back for the Magpies, with Lloyd Kelly, Dan Burn or Lewis Hall on the other side.

Ederson – Manchester City to Al Ittihad
Man City do not stand in the way of players who want to leave, as long as their asking price is met. We saw it in the past with Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and we are seeing it again with Ederson. And when they sell star players, the Citizens seem to get better. Weird, isn’t it?

Ederson has reportedly agreed personal terms with Al Ittihad and it is now up to the clubs to agree a fee. We think they will. So they probably won’t.

Noni Madueke and Trevoh Chalobah – Chelsea to Newcastle United
Two for the price of one.

Chalobah has been left out of Chelsea’s squad for their pre-season tour of the United States and he will no doubt take some gratification from watching Enzo Maresca’s side leak goals for fun. He deserves a lot better than how his boyhood club has treated him and will be another club’s gain when he is sold. Newcastle need a bit more depth at the back with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles out until 2025, and Chalobah would be a terrific addition.

Another position Eddie Howe will be targeting reinforcements is on the right wing and Chalobah’s team-mate Madueke would be perfect. Long gone are the days of a winger running to the byline and digging out a cross, with left-footers on the right and vice versa the norm. Madueke falls into that category and is a player who loves to cut inside. He has not had enough consistent playing time at Stamford Bridge to prove his worth but at Newcastle, we think he could come alive.

Jadon Sancho – Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain
One of PSG’s contingency plans to Williams and Napoli pair Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen, we could see Sancho leave Man Utd despite shifting some of that water under the bridge between himself and Erik ten Hag.

Reports in France state that dialogue between Sancho’s camp and the Ligue 1 champions has taken place, with the winger ‘extremely excited’ to make the move. This feels like a very realistic transfer as the Parisiens try their best to fill the void left by Kylian Mbappe by signing two or three replacements.

Sancho might be back in Ten Hag’s good books but it would not be surprising if it’s a simple tactic to keep the upper hand in transfer negotiations. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the 24-year-old leave and PSG feels like a realistic destination.

📣 TO THE COMMENTS! Which players will we be wrong about then? Join the debate here.

Conor Gallagher – Chelsea to Tottenham
This one has been in the rumour mill for a long time and Aston Villa are also in the frame. Gallagher was excellent for Chelsea last season but that doesn’t mean he is untouchable; quite the contrary. The Blues are more than happy to cash in on their youth graduate for some of that succulent pure profit and to bring in a shiny new toy – presumably some teenager from Brazil.

It is the flip of a coin between Villa and Spurs and we have opted for the latter, who have signed two young midfielders in Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, though neither are box-to-box like Gallagher. Villa new boy Amadou Onana is more of that type of player and cost £50m – so that is our reasoning for choosing Ange Postecoglou’s men.

Jhon Duran – Aston Villa to West Ham
He threw up the sign with his arms. It’s a done deal. Irons.

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