This article was originally published on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io
—
West Ham’s smart Summerville deal
Crysencio Summerville will undergo his medical at West Ham today. The deal is almost done, and we are just waiting for the signing of all documents.
Brighton were interested but never reached an agreement for Crysencio.
West Ham did an excellent job behind the scenes in June and then presented a formal bid almost 10 days ago, as exclusively revealed.
The deal is £25m plus add-ons and is a very smart move from the Hammers.
No updates on Alvarez until after the Olympics
There’s no substantial update yet on Julian Alvarez and nothing to say before the end of the Olympics.
He wants to play more and Man City want to keep Julian, but that remains the same story as I revealed in June.
After the Olympics, Julian and his agents will talk to Man City and we will see if there are any more developments.
Liverpool still interested in Anthony Gordon
I’m receiving lots of questions on Anthony Gordon guys, but I was only told that Liverpool discussed several potential swap deals in June, not the specific values that have been mentioned elsewhere in the media.
I don’t have confirmation on the numbers being talked about but, for sure Liverpool wanted Gordon and they remain interested in the player, considering him an excellent winger.
Let’s see what Liverpool will do this month, but appreciation for Gordon remains; I’m 100% sure of that.
Manchester United’s third ‘here we go’ of the summer is…
A super talented striker and first of all, let me say that this kind of deal is something that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and all the people at the club are planning to do for the present and future; signing top talents early on in their careers.
We have to be fair and say that Arsenal made a very big proposal to the player in terms of money, but the decision was to turn it down and explore other options, including in Germany.
As soon as the deal is official, we’re going to reveal some names of clubs that really tried to sign him and what kind of proposals they made in terms of the project, but now the important news is that Manchester United have signed Chido.
Sticking with Manchester United, I can confirm that Noussair Mazraoui, the right-back, is also waiting for the Red Devils, but Aaron Wan-Bissaka must leave before Mazraoui will be allowed to join.
There were other possibilities, even in the recent days, to consider, but the player keeps repeating he wants to wait for Manchester United. He agreed on personal terms and believes this is the best opportunity for him. He trusts the project. He trusts the manager.
He wants to feel important after difficulties at Bayern, because he’s never been a regular starter.
Also, no bids yet for Scott McTominay.
Despite rumours that Fulham have offered £30m for his services, in the last 24h they were busy with the documents on the Smith-Rowe deal and with new signing, Cuenca, from Villarreal – as exclusively revealed.
McTominay has always been appreciated and for sure Marco Silva likes him a lot, but there’s still no formal bid on the table.
João Neves moving to Paris Saint-Germain doesn’t change a lot regarding Man United and Manuel Ugarte.
United already wanted Ugarte and PSG already agreed to sell him… but they want the right proposal and the right package, and Man United have not offered that at the moment.
Ugarte and Amrabat remain two names on Man United’s list for their midfield.
Atleti and Chelsea on the verge of Conor Gallagher agreement
It’s important to say that Chelsea and Atletico Madrid have almost agreed a fee for Conor Gallagher. It’s imminent and all about final details, and Atleti are waiting for the green light from the player.
As always, you need a player to approve the move, but in this case, even more so, because Conor Gallagher only has one year left on his contract and so has a lot of power in negotiations.
Atletico will not wait forever, so the timing will also be important, but for sure, Chelsea and Atletico are ready to do business.
Chelsea consider it a good solution because they don’t want to lose the player on a free and also they avoid any English club signing him on a free transfer too.
Let’s see what Conor Gallagher decides to do.
Raphinha’s definitive answer to Saudi Pro League representatives
We know that Barcelona are busy with trying to sign Nico Williams and Dani Olmo because, as I told you over the weekend, there have been contacts between Barcelona and Dani Olmo’s agents as well as between Barcelona and Leipzig.
The agents need to understand what Barça can do in terms of proposals, structure of the deal, and all these kind of things. Barça feel that Dani Olmo wants to go there, but we know that Barcelona are also busy with outgoings. They probably need to do something, especially if they want to bring in two players in offensive positions.
And so what’s important to remember is the situation of Raphinha, in terms of official proposals. There has been nothing from Al-Ahli, no formal bids, no official proposals.
Some intermediaries approached Raphinha and people close to him to understand if he wanted to start discussions over a potential Saudi move. If he was ready to open the door and then, in that case, go and negotiate with them.
What I’m hearing is that the answer of Raphinha was very clear; “no, thanks.”
He wants to continue in Europe. He wants to continue in Barcelona. He’s convinced that this season he can do great things, and he was very happy with his development in the second and final part of the season last year. He did very well, especially in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.
We’ll have to see what happens in the next weeks, because August for Barça could be very busy.
Aaron Ramsdale waiting for goalkeeper ‘domino’
There have been no new movements or updates for a while now, so we will have to see what happens later in the window, based on a goalkeepers domino.
If he does end up leaving Arsenal, then yes guys, they could need one more goalkeeper.