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It was great to get the chance to speak to Rafael Leao about a number of topics, and it was interesting to hear that he tried to persuade Joao Cancelo to join him at AC Milan.
“I was talking with Joao Cancelo and he liked AC Milan… so I told Joao: ok, come to AC Milan!” Leao said. “He was at Man City, I tried… but it was difficult. It was like the perfect match for him to join our new era.”
The reason it didn’t happen is because Cancelo only wanted to play for Barcelona, but also it was never a club to club negotiation. Leao spoke to Cancelo, but Milan never spoke to City also because they already had two right-backs.
For Cancelo it was only Barca and he still hopes to stay at the club next season after joining them on loan from Man City this term.
We’re hearing more speculation about the Manchester United job, with Brentford boss Thomas Frank the latest name to be linked as a potential replacement for Erik ten Hag.
Still, as I always repeat about Manchester United – no decision has been made about Ten Hag’s position and we have to wait for that in order to understand what they will do with the new manager. There are many links but nothing will be concrete until they decide on Ten Hag.
I like Frank and he’s done an impressive job at Brentford, but it’s too early at the moment to be talking about him or anyone else as a candidate for United. Let’s see how Ten Hag ends the season, with two more league matches and the FA Cup final still to come.
As previously reported, Tosin Adarabioyo has decided to leave Fulham as a free agent this summer, and so there’s unsurprisingly a lot of interest and a lot of media speculation about where he could go next.
Still, my understanding remains that Newcastle remain frontrunners, they are in advanced talks to sign Adarabioyo this summer, and they’re also chasing another defender in Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly. Newcastle want both players and are progressing well with these deals – they are optimistic about making it happen early in the summer.
Chelsea and Man United are also informed on conditions of the Adarabioyo deal but at the moment, there is still no substantial change in the race to sign the centre-back; until he signs the contract, it’s still open, so let’s see what happens and if there are any surprises, but for the moment Newcastle are leading the race and their interest is the most advanced.
One more point on Chelsea – despite some talk about them being open to selling both left-backs Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell this summer, there are no negotiations or talks for either Cucurella or Chilwell at this point. Chelsea are not negotiating for them, and also Cucurella is doing very well so at the moment the situation is still quiet.
It could be another big summer to watch for Saudi Pro League clubs, but at the moment it’s still early to know about things like budget, so although someone like Casemiro is a top target and he has chances to leave Manchester United, it’s not yet guaranteed that he’ll move to Saudi.
Two Arsenal stars have also been linked with Saudi. Firstly, Gabriel Jesus has been mentioned as a target, but at the moment he is not talking to any Saudi clubs. There are no proper negotiations ongoing, it’s just about interest. It’s the same for Thomas Partey – he was a target for Saudi last summer, but he’s not in contact with them at the moment.
Another name to watch at Arsenal is Reiss Nelson. It’s a possibility that he could be leaving the club. There was interest in Nelson last summer but he ended up signing a new contract. Still, he will now consider proposals in the summer and Arsenal too; they’re not desperate to part ways, only in case there’s a good proposal in the summer transfer window.
