Gossip: Everton battle Man Utd, Spurs for Grealish, Coutinho

Matt Stead

GREAL DEAL
The last we heard of Jack Grealish he was potentially jeopardising a lucrative summer move to Manchester United. No bother, because Everton want him now.

Football Insider suggest that the Toffees want to make the Aston Villa captain ‘their headline summer signing’ in a ‘stunning swoop’. And they feel they hold the trump card with ‘the promise of working with an elite manager in Carlo Ancelotti’.

Grealish has already played under coaching legends Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde, so we’re not sure how that works.

United are still expected to make a move for the 24-year-old, but it will be with Everton as their main competitor. How weird.

 

FEELING COUT, MIGHT DELETE LATER
The Daily Mirror sound a little less sure about their claim that Tottenham will pursue Philippe Coutinho. They ‘could join the race’ for him, much like they ‘could’ reverse their decision to furlough non-playing staff. Neither will happen.

Chelsea were believed to be frontrunners for the Brazilian and have already held talks with Barcelona over a possible loan move. But the prospect of an obligation to buy at the end of any such deal is dissuading any interested parties.

Frank Lampard ‘is confident he can get the best out of him’ but Chelsea would prefer only an option to sign Coutinho permanently. Which is where Tottenham come in: they would hold the advantage were they to agree to a loan with a clause stating they will sign the midfielder at a later date.

Of course, the issue there is that they don’t have enough money to cover the wages of their non-playing workers, so surely wouldn’t be able to meet Barca’s demands. PSG are mentioned as another suitor for the Brazilian which would make sense. Everton were even mooted as an option by SPORT earlier this week. Is that with Grealish, too?

For what it’s worth, Tottenham wanted Coutinho last summer. The collapse of the move p*ssed off both the player and Mauricio Pochettino.

 

NELSON’S COLUMN
Barca could be too busy negotiating a deal for a Manchester City defender to deal with Daniel Levy’s bullsh*t. They want Joao Cancelo and could even offer Nelson Semedo in return.

Cancelo, who joined City in a part-exchange deal involving Danilo last summer, has been restricted to eight Premier League starts in his debut season and fewer minutes than Benjamin Mendy.

So they might be interested by the prospect of swapping players to save to protect their transfer budget. The Daily Telegraph say Europe’s elite are exploring that idea as a reaction to ‘the loss in revenue’ from the global pandemic, with direct player trades ‘appearing increasingly attractive among chief executives’

Cancelo would be a prime candidate but could Semedo succeed where he has failed in establishing himself as a first-team regular?

 

AND THE REST
Roma have offered Chelsea midfielder Pedro, 32, the chance to join the Serie A club, with the Spaniard out of contract at Stamford Bridge this summer… Arsenal and Manchester United are both in the race to sign Bayern Munich’s 25-year-old French midfielder Corentin Tolisso… Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Kai Havertz, 21, wants to stay in Germany and join Bayern Munich once the transfer window opens.

 

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