Transfer gossip: Eye-watering Mbappe cost is revealed as Manchester United eye British pair
Manchester United are monitoring things when it comes to two British players, knowing full well that Kylian Mbappe is out of all price ranges
OUR GRACIOUS KING
One player is dominating the transfer gossip sphere and we all know it. It is the only story people are bothering with, the solitary bit of speculation worth contemplating. There is literally no point in discussing anything other than Leon King being tracked by three Premier League clubs.
Fabrizio Romano, who clearly has nothing else on, reports that many potential suitors are keeping an eye on the development of the Rangers centre-half, who started the Champions League defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
King has made just 17 first-team appearances for his boyhood club, making a single league appearance in their title-winning season and watching both their Scottish Cup and Europa League finals in 2021/22 from the bench.
Steven Gerrard wanted to bring his former player to Aston Villa in December 2021 but the three Premier League clubs named as sending scouts to watch 18-year-old King are Leeds, Manchester United and Newcastle. They will thus know that his current Rangers contract expires in 2024.
IN AN MBAPPE, HE’S GONE
The Daily Telegraph find some transfer scraps elsewhere, reporting on the future of some fella called Kylian Mbappe.
It turns out the bloke would quite like to leave the employers to whom he quite foolishly committed himself by signing a new contract five months ago. And sources suggest that said club reckon said player is worth €300m-350m, or £263m-£306m.
Jason Burt adds that Real Madrid would predictably be at the front of what is unlikely to be an extensive queue. That update should please Los Blancos fan Mbappe, who feels betrayed by PSG.
The claim is that promises made to the forward have been broken, including his deployment as a No. 9 when he would prefer to play off a centre-forward.
That relationship with Neymar has also ‘deteriorated’. But PSG believe they can persuade Mbappe to stay in any case. That world-record valuation might help deter others and retain his ridiculous statistics.
TONE SHIFT
There is no great depth to Calciomercato’s Ivan Toney update. Here it is in its translated entirety:
‘Brentford is working to secure with a new contract the English striker Ivan Toney (26), on the notebook of Manchester United, Leeds, Newcastle and West Ham.’
But yeah, there you go. Why an Italian outlet would have the inside track on a Premier League club’s contract talks with a player linked to other English teams is unknown. Stop being such a square.
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