Mbappe for Arsenal?
Ican tell you exclusively that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and his Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis have travelled to the South of France to talk with Europe’s outstanding teenager Kylian Mbappe who made a huge impression playing for Monaco in the Champions League. The youngster is tipped as a future Ballon d’Or winner, the highest footballing honour for a player considered the best in the world. Both Arsenal and French national manager Didier Deschamps have said that Mbappe must go to a top Premier League club to realise his true potential and a world record £100million fee is being discussed. It is ironic that Wenger, known for being very careful with the Gunners purse and not spending big sums, could authorise a cheque for such a staggering amount of money. The prospect of Arsenal fielding a strike force with Sanchez, Ozil and Mbappe playing together will put fear into every other team in the Premier League and Arsene knows it. However, they are likely to face competition from Manchester City and Paris St Germain and both have very rich financial backers. Chelsea fight on Hazard I have been told that despite having three years left on his contract, Chelsea are desperate to stop Real Madrid from poaching their best player, Eden Hazard. The 26 year-old striker has been talking to Real and his representatives have had three meetings in London with the Spanish European Champions League winners. However, Chelsea have now moved to make him the highest paid player in the Premier League at £320,000 a week! Currently he earns £200,000. The highest paid player in the League is Man United’s Paul Pogba on £290,000 a week. Hazard isn’t even Chelsea’s highest paid player because he is £20,000 a week behind Cesc Fabrigas. I received an update yesterday on Eden’s broken ankle which he turned when doing a Renaldo style step over on a slippery pitch training for the Belgium national team. The surgery was successful but he is expected to miss the beginning of the new season. Pep shows Bravo the door Pep Guardiola doesn’t do “looking after players he doesn’t think are up to his high standards.” If you are not good enough you are out! Just ask goalkeeper Joe Hart who was shipped out on loan as soon as Pep arrived despite being a brilliant keeper, in the England team and an automatic first choice for previous managers Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini. Now Hart’s replacement Claudio Bravo is facing an exit from City after a poor season. The Chilean national team keeper has been replaced by new signing, £35million Ederson and Pep will listen to offers for Claudio. Bravo came in from Barcelona for £15.4million to replace Hart but was dropped in January and he will now probably head back to Spain if an offer comes in.
Herrera on verge of Utd captaincy won Manchester United’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year Award which is voted for by the fans. Now United are preparing to double Ander’s £90,000-a-week wages. Herrera has recently been linked to Barcelona and is out of contract next summer so United want to tie him to the club by extending his contract for a further 12 months. Manager Jose Mourhino sees the player as a key in his plans for next season. The Spaniard might also take on the captaincy from Wayne Rooney and would then be in the same elite company as former midfield captains Bryan Robson and Roy Keane. Could there be a big surprise at Man United? I am just passing on the gossip to you but there could be a surprise looming at Manchester United. After winning the Europa Cup, beating Dutch club Ajax, celebrations were very low key because of the terrorist bomb attack in Manchester. It was a mark of respect and solidarity. There was no open-top parade and no lavish banquet to celebrate. Instead there was a quiet gathering at Old Trafford for players, staff, club workers and their key sponsors. As the refreshments were served, with a glass of champagne, the talk turned to which players might arrive at the club this summer. The usual names were bandied about: Griezmann, Lukaku etc. But then surfaced the name John Terry! Manager Jose Mourhino won three Premier League titles with JT at the very centre of his Chelsea defence. Mourhino knows the respect the player commands and he also knows that he would be a very positive influence in the dressing room. The former Blues man has been training in Portugal and played at Michael Carrick’s Man U testimonial on Sunday. Mourhino wants big changes and has handed Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward a “wish list” of players he wants. There is one hiccup with John Terry however. JT lives very near to me in Cobham/Oxshott in Surrey and he wants to remain there with his family. That puts Bournemouth in a great position to sign him because it is only 80 miles away and an easy drive whereas Manchester is 300 miles away and would mean moving house. I will let you know what happens. Tom Werner the Liverpool owner, along with co-owner John W Henry, has said that, “Liverpool’s greatest days are yet to come next season. The club now has a remarkable manager who is world class and we have a number of world class players on the team. We’re going to be building a new training facility at Kirkby, where we’re combining the first team with the Academy. We continue to strive every day to make the club stronger and better.” Meanwhile the Reds are targeting Guinea international Naby Keita who plays for LB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. He is rated at £50million however they are also interested in another Keita - Lazio’s Keita Balde. The Sengalese forward is 22 and netted 15 goals in 30 Serie A matches this season. I saw Fulham play earlier in the season and was very impressed with their teen discovery Ryan Sessegnon. Now Spurs tell me that they are ready to offer £12million for the 16-yearold. Danny Rose is likely to leave Spurs this summer and Sessegnon would be an ideal replacement. The youngster has just signed with the agent of Spur’s striker Harry Kane so the move is looking good.