Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, a life in which – for the next three months at least – you will be constantly consumed by transfer news.
Thankfully, JOE’s Transfer Digest is here to sort your transfers into bite-sized pieces and that is exactly what we have done.
At least we tried
Today’s first story centres around AS Monaco and France wunderkind Kylian Mbappe, who has reportedly been subject to a bumper bid from Arsenal.
Figures vary depending on the news outlet, but rough estimates claim the North London club have offered roughly £87 million for the youngster – who we profiled in detail recently – with the intention of being able to say they tried to sign him later in the summer.
Speaking this morning, a source at the Emirates revealed that, while Arsene Wenger knows he won’t be able to acquire Mbappe, he feels it’s important that supporters believe he tried to do so.
“Arsene knows we won’t be able to sign Mbappe, they already rejected a larger bid from Real Madrid. He’s quite happy going along how we are now, but he knows supporters will get angry if they don’t think we’re at least trying. As such, we will continue to submit bids for world class players that we know deep down will be rejected,” said the source.
Man Utd change focus
News emerged yesterday that Manchester United had turned their attention away from Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann, with the club deciding instead to look for a striker who can stunt the development of Marcus Rashford, as well as fill in for the injured 35-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
While Griezmann was said to have been interested in the deal, club sources reportedly believe the main priority should be finding a player who can not only carry out Zlatan’s role in the team, but also keep Rashford frustrated and on the bench as he enters the most important season of his career to date.
So long Salah
It’s bad news for another transfer, however, as Liverpool today confirmed that they have ended negotiations with Roma over the signing of Mohamed Salah, after reading a tweet last night from your 14-year-old brother.
According to officials at Anfield, both the Egyptian international and manager Jurgen Klopp were eager to complete the deal, before your brother’s tweet – detailing how Salah was nothing more than a “speedy fraud” – hit the net.
Upon reading the tweet, the club decided that they could not go ahead with the transfer, saying afterward: “We had been very excited about this transfer, but after reading your brother’s tweet we would be remiss to carry on. We didn’t realise he was a fraud until now. Had we known, we wouldn’t have let it get this far.”
And finally…
British Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken for the first time of her happiness that the United Kingdom can play host to the Champions League final, which takes place in the Welsh capital of Cardiff on Saturday evening.
Discussing the flagship event in the European football calendar, the under-pressure PM welcomed Juventus and Real Madrid, but questioned why the two giants don’t send other teams to compete in their stead?
“It doesn’t make sense to me. There are so many people watching and they could make a mistake at any moment? Why don’t they send a deputy to participate instead?” pondered May.
