Sunday's transfer news: PSG want Bale-Neymar swap, Man Utd in Pepe talks, Arsenal eye Kean, Spurs update
Sunday's news, rumours and done deals in the transfer window
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Manchester United’s squad revamp continues at haste, with reports that talks with Lille are at an advanced stage to sign forward Nicolas Pepe. The club have this weekend rejected a fresh £54m offer from Inter Milan for Romelu Lukaku, but if the striker leaves a move for Pepe appears to be in the pipeline.
Arsenal are keeping tabs on Juventus and Italy forward Moise Kean, although one player who could head for the exit is Alex Iwobi after the academy product grew concerned at the prospect of Wilfried Zaha arriving as his replacement. Tottenham meanwhile are closing on a club-record transfer for Giovani Lo Celso, with a £67m offer to Real Betis set to prise the midfielder to north London.
Meanwhile, new Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has set his sights on one of the club’s former strikers as Andy Carroll is being strongly linked with a move back to the north-east. Liverpool meanwhile may have wrapped up their transfer business for the summer already, with Jurgen Klopp admitting the club do not need to sign anyone before the transfer window deadline. Follow the latest updates below.
The summer transfer window closes at 11pm on Thursday 8 August across the Premier League and Championship. The European transfer window remains open until Monday 2 September.
Welcome to The Independent's transfer live blog, where we'll bring you all the latest news, rumours and done deals throughout the summer window.
We begins this morning at Manchester United, where a striker upheaval could be in the cards.
Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to sign Romelu Lukaku for Inter Milan, so much so that he used yesterday's press conference following the pre-season friendly defeat against United to say as much.
United rejected a £54m offer from the Italian club on Saturday, but should they choose to sell, it appears a replacement is already being targeted. The Sunday Times reports that United are in advanced talks to sign Nicolas Pepe from Lille, with the 24-year-old valued at around £70m and attracting interest from all over Europe.
Big news in from Real Madrid, where Gareth Bale is leaving the club.
Zinedine Zidane left the Welshman out of Madrid's pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich last night, and the manager confirmed afterwards that the reason for his absence was because "the club are working on his departure".
The Frenchman, who could not say who the club in talks to sign Bale is, also revealed that the move could be done as early as tomorrow, which has the potential to kickstart a flurry of transfer activity as it would enable Madrid to go after their main target in Paul Pogba.
This could be big...
The knock-on effect from Bale's departure would impact a number of clubs across a number of leagues.
If Bale does leave, United will face the prospect of a large bid from Madrid for Paul Pogba, who has been pushing for a summer exit.
That would require United to look for a replacement, which is expected to be Bruno Fernandes of Sporting, but it would also give them the money to invest in someone like Nicolas Pepe as mentioned earlier this morning.
However, if the unnamed club in talks for Bale turns out to be Tottenham as had been reported earlier in the transfer window, Spurs would surely need to sell if they are to also land £67m target Giovani Lo Celso. It would mean the likes of Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen would face uncertain futures, although should Madrid seal Pogba it would end their interest in Eriksen this summer.
Elsewhere, Arsenal are interested in Juventus forward Moise Kean.
The 19-year-old is highly-rated in Turin and remains a big part of their future, but the Daily Mail reports that Arsenal have contacted the teenager's agent over the possibility of a move to the Emirates.
The report adds that Barcelona and Everton are also interested in the Italy international, but it's understood that Juventus will demand a £36m buy-back clause in any deal to enable them to re-sign him if he continues his impressive development.
However, while Arsenal are looking out incomings this summer, one outgoing could well be one of the brightest academy graduates.
The interest in Wilfried Zaha has lead to concerns from Alex Iwobi over his place in the Arsenal side, according to The Sun, and he will push for an exit if the move for the Crystal Palace forward goes through given the impact it will have on the pecking order in his position.
Iwobi has struggled to lock down a starting place under both Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, and the arrival of Zaha - who would command an automatic starting place in the squad given the money it would cost to sign him - could be the final nail in Iwobi's Arsenal coffin.
The future of Neymar has also caused a stir this summer, with his potential departure having a similar knock-on effect as the Bale move.
Paris Saint-Germain are open to selling the Brazilian due to his disruptive nature in the team, with the club in the belief that he does not meet what they are trying to achieve in the French capital.
Barcelona appear to be the only club in the running for Neymar, but even their interest has waned since signing Antoine Griezmann earlier this month - a deal that required the Catalans to take out a loan in order to fund the €107m move.
But according to reports in Italy, PSG are putting a plan together for the possible departure of Neymar, and have contacted Juventus about the availability of Paulo Dybala should they need to move for a replacement.
Arsenal are closing on a deal to sign William Saliba.
The French defender is a long-term target of Arsenal's and finally appears to have agreed terms to a £27m move this summer. However, he will remain with St Etienne for the rest of the season, with the 18-year-old only moving to the Premier League ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
Asked if he was annoyed to wait another year before landing Saliba, Arsenal manager Unai Emery took the philosophical approach by admitting he would rather wait for his first-choice targets than be forced to sign second-choice players.
Gareth Bale's agent is furious with Zinedine Zidane.
The Real Madrid manager spoke overnight to claim that Bale will leave the club in the coming days after talks began with an unnamed team over a summer transfer.
But Bale's agent Jonathan Barnett has labelled the former World Cup winner "a disgrace", and made it clear that Bale will only leave the club on his own terms.
Speaking to ESPN, Barnett said: "Zidane is a disgrace to speak like that about someone who has done so much for Real.
"If and when Gareth goes it will be because it is in the best interest of Gareth and nothing to do with Zidane pushing."
It's fair to say that the situation at Real Madrid has turned ugly.
Here's the full story on Gareth Bale's agent's fierce response to Zinedine Zidane:
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