GM, Free Agents.

Welcome to the weekend edition of The Free Transfer— the 5-min daily newsletter keeping you informed on the latest in the football world.

Today’s agenda:

• Chelsea update 🟦 — they’ve got their #9!

• Kyle Walker to Bayern domino 🟥

• Serie A➡️PL➡️ Serie A

• Spurs new CB? 🐓 

• Fab’s grab-bag 💰️ 

CHELSEA UPDATE 🟦 

Per David Ornstein, aka The Oracle, Chelsea are closing in on a deal for Villarreal striker Nicolas Jackson for around €35mm. We will dig in more on him next week to give Chelsea fans a preview. 👀 

Ornstein has also reported that Brighton rejected a bid of £60MM from Chelsea for Caicedo. It is worth noting that Brighton rejected a bid of £75MM from Arsenal in January for Caicedo.

KYLE WALKER TO BAYERN DOMINO 🟥 

Without a new contract being proposed to the recent treble winner, Kyle Walker is pursuing an exit to Bayern Munich where he can continue competing at the top level. Thomas Tuchel is reportedly very keen on the City right back.

What’s key to note here is that City now look poised to get rid of Walker & Joao Cancelo— their two rightbacks. On top of that, an exit for Aymeric Laporte looks likely as well.

That leaves them with:

• LB: Sergio Gomez, Nathan Ake

• LCB: Ruben Dias

• RCB: Manuel Akanji, John Stones

• RB: Rico Lewis

As you can see they are very light at RB & LCB. These are ones to watch over the coming weeks.

None of their CBs (outside of Ake, when played there) would be left-footed. Pep Guardiola is someone who obsesses about these things, which makes the links to Josko Gvardiol credible.

The Croatian CB has been seriously linked to Real Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool, & Bayern Munich in the past 12 months.

Securing his signature would be a big boost for City’s depleting back line. He could play LCB or even some LB if needed.

But at >€100MM, he is extremely costly.

SERIE A ➡️ PREMIER LEAGUE ➡️ SERIE A

After Leicester’s relegation, Timothy Castagne has been subject of lots of transfer speculation. Most recently with Juventus. It looks like this one could move quickly, as Juventus are moving on rightback Juan Cuadrado this summer.

€15MM should be enough to get this over the line.

After Tammy Abraham’s ACL injury a few weeks ago, Roma will be in the market for a top striker.

Gianluca Scamacca has had a very poor first year at West Ham, where he was behind Michail Antonio in the pecking order. Then in January, West Ham bought Danny Ings from Aston Villa.

Scamacca looks like he wants a move back to Italy as he has already agreed to personal terms with Roma, but West Ham have no interest in letting him leave unless it’s on a permanent basis.

After Leeds’ relegation, Diego Llorente wants stay on at Roma permanently. The clubs will look to sort a fee as soon as possible. Being relegated, Leeds will likely let him go for cheap.

SPURS TARGET FULHAM’S TOSIN ADARABIOYO ⬜️ 

Sky Sports are reporting that Spurs are interested Fulham’s 6’5” (196cm) English centerback Tosin Adarabioyo. The former Manchester City academy product has been a staple in Fulham’s backline for the past few seasons.

As Spurs are releasing Davinson Sanchez, Adarabioyo could be the perfect replacement with just 1 year left on his contract.

FAB’S GRAB-BAG OF TRANSFER NEWS 💰️ 

PSG seem to be looking for that “true #9” that they have been missing since the Zlatan/Cavani days. Osimhen & Kolo Muani are both great hold-up strikers who can be a threat in behind. Let’s see who they move for— both likely will cost north of €100MM.

Manchester United has their £40MM bid for Mount rejected this week, and look set to bid £50MM in the next few days.

Kai Havertz has already agreed to personal terms with Arsenal, who had a bid of £50MM rejected for the German international. They will look to bid again soon, but not go up to Chelsea’s £70MM valuation.

After Newcastle’s reported talks with Barella, Liverpool have jumped in. He could be the perfect #8 for either of these teams who are looking to reinforce their midfields. His fantastic season at Inter Milan was key to fueling their UCL run.

That’s all for today folks! Rumor mill is greased up and spinning.

Cheers,

—The Gaffer