Man City prepare ‘dossier’ on Forest man as Palace target €10m striker in Spain
Welcome to Tuesday’s round-up of all the latest (and strangest) Premier League transfer rumours – and we’ll kick-start today’s digest by bringing you news that could well be of interest to Manchester City fans, and may well deeply worry any Nottingham Forest fans who may be passing by.
The Citizens are preparing “a detailed dossier” on freshly-minted England international Morgan Gibbs-White and are keeping “close tabs” on him due to the esteem in which he is held by the scouts at the Etihad. There’s no word on how much he might cost or what City would be prepared to pay.
Regardless of City’s interest, Forest are still keen to keep him around and are preparing a brand new contract offer in the hopes of persuading him to stay at the City Ground for the long haul. If they fail, however, they can console themselves with another report from the same outlet which suggests that their summer transfer target, Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush, has decided he wants a move to the Premier League, which could be handy in January.
The 3AM Verdict: We don’t doubt that City like watching Gibbs-White play, but they will compile hundreds of detailed dossiers that never get used as a routine part of their job – a lack of financial details makes us suspect that any interest is at a very early stage and that there’s nothing concrete here yet. As for Marmoush, there are also reports of other Premier League teams showing interest, so we’re not sure whether Forest will find it easy to get hold of him even if he does want to leave Eintracht Frankfurt.
Crystal Palace eye up ‘important’ player
News now from Crystal Palace, who may have signed Eddie Nketiah but apparently want to add more firepower up front with the addition of Real Sociedad striker Sheraldo Becker – at least if Spanish outlet Fichajes have their facts right.
The 29-year-old Suriname international has become an “important” player for Sociedad since signing in January but his profile “fits perfectly” with Palace’s alleged requirements and he could be available for a fee of around €10m (£8.4m), which is more than double what the Spanish side just paid for him. The report implies that we’d be looking at a January deal rather than this being something kept aside for next summer.
The 3AM Verdict: To be honest, we generally assumed that anything printed in Fichajes is best ignored until somebody else prints it, but at least there’s some detail here and it’s a new one to us, at least. Becker seems a bit of an odd target, however, because while his physicality and movement make him a good hold-up man, he’s not a huge goalscorer and has managed just two goals in 20 games for his new club. An odd rumour that we’re no sure about.
More news concerning a La Liga star and a potential move to the Premier League now – if you believe Football España, both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur made enquiries about Barcelona midfielder Fermín López over the summer while the 21-year-old was busy winning Euro 2024 with his country.
The move “never got hot”, however, because the player simply “did not want to know” about the idea of leaving the club and Barcelona themselves find some different economic levers to pull – indeed, they see him as “a key piece” for the future and want to tie him down to a new contract.
The 3AM Verdict: Barcelona are in permanent financial disarray and overspend year after year, so it’s always worth phoning up about their players as they’re bound to need to sell someone – from the tone of this report, however, we suspect that neither United nor Spurs will be back any time soon, but perhaps it gives us a few clues as to the profile of player both teams want next season, as they’ll certainly be in the market for midfielders going forward.
