Yahoo Finance La Liga Leaks: Real Madrid 'join race for Weigl', Juventus 'say no to Barca's Dybala bid'
Just when everyone thought it would be a straight fight between Barcelona and Manchester City for Julian Weigl, it appears Real Madrid are ready to snap up the German international – but in the summer of 2018. ‘AS’ say the Borussia Dortmund midfielder, who recently signed a new contract at the club, was offered to Madrid because he sees Los Blancos a good move to make in the future.
Barcelona and City are both keen to sign Weigl in the upcoming summer transfer window but both the player and Dortmund would be reluctant to talk over a move so soon. AS say they spoke to the player who told them: “I’m happy at Dortmund but we’ll see about the future.” I’m not sure what this adds apart from, well, nothing, as no one can predict the future [as of this writing].
The article goes on to state that this would allow Madrid to bring back Marcos Llorente next summer to provide competition for Casemiro in that defensive midfield role, the same one Weigl occupies. Quite what would happen in 2018 with potentially all three at the club isn’t discussed but, then again, what have I already said about predicting the future?
A report in Italy, picked up by ‘SPORT’, relates to the future of Paulo Dybala. It’s no secret the young hitman is in contract talks with Juventus but both sides are said to be miles apart when it comes to reaching a compromise. GdS, the main sport’s paper in Italy, say Barcelona took this impasse to launch a bid for the young striker seen as the long-term heir to Luis Suarez’s crown.
However the bid was rejected out of hand as the Italian club has no intentions of selling their star striker and less so in January. Juventus hope within the next six months to finally tie the Argentinian to new terms, similar to that of his international teammate Gonzalo Higuain. Until he does though, expect Europe’s fellow elite sides to keep a close eye on proceedings.
Portuguese newspapers are often read more during transfer windows than at any other time and they’ve thrown out the name Raul Jimenez as a possible reinforcement for Liverpool next summer. The story originally came from ‘A Bola’ but I find it hard to believe.
Benfica finally bought the full economic rights for the player, who endured a nightmare spell at Atletico Madrid, for €22m and he’s still yet to establish himself as first choice at the Portuguese giants. He’s scored 10 league goals in 18 months, which is hardly groundbreaking, and it sounds a lot more like a story to drum up interest as opposed to anything genuine. Just my two cents though.
It appears Adalberto Peñaranda could be offered a chance to return to LaLiga with Malaga according to ‘AS’. The former Granada striker moved to Watford in the summer before being loaned out to another Pozzo family owned club, Udinese, but has failed to establish himself in Italy and could be on the [loan] move again.
A sticking point to signing for Malaga would be that they already have three non-EU players on their books and would need to offload one before signing Peñaranda. With Sandro Ramirez firing goals in for fun it’d make sense to add more competition to that forward line and the Venezuelan is as good as any available this month. Talks are ongoing.
Jese Rodriguez is another player who hasn’t found the right balance after a summer move and over in Italy, via ‘Sportsmediaset’, they’re claiming AS Roma have stolen a march on both Las Palmas and Liverpool. A loan fee of €3m and the option to make the deal a permanent one for €22m in the summer is said to be what Roma have offered PSG. It goes without saying that those terms, if true, are way beyond what Las Palmas can afford.
Other news and rumours in brief:
Real Betis are hoping to sign a centre back this summer and are keeping tabs on Marc Muniesa, who has found himself frozen out at Stoke City. [Estadio Deportivo]
Clement Lenglet is set to become Sevilla‘s first signing of the January transfer window. The young French centre back, on the books of Nancy, is very close to joining Jorge Sampaoli’s team. (AS)
Charly Musonda‘s second loan spell at Real Betis was officially cancelled by Chelsea yesterday. The Belgian winger found opportunities hard to come by under former coach Gus Poyet and the London club aren’t willing to wait and see if Musonda will play a more important role under Victor Sanchez. (Official)
