8 months ago
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Ben White’s decision not to make himself available for England in the latest international break has attracted a lot of attention, and I’m aware that there have been some details reported about what went on with the Arsenal defender and England coach Steve Holland at the last World Cup.
I’m extremely respectful when it’s about personal stuff – White has his own reasons to do so and he’s not being crazy. So it will be for the player to clarify why he did that, when and if he wants. For sure Arsenal respect his decision and the player can rest for ten days, which is important as there are two crucial months ahead for Arsenal.
Staying with Arsenal, some fans have asked me about transfer links with Adrien Rabiot, but he’s not received any proposal from Premier League clubs so far, even if playing in England has always tempted Rabiot.
Let’s see if clubs will move, but for sure Juventus are prepared to fight to keep him at the club with a new contract proposal. Juve will offer a new deal to Rabiot and then it will be up to the player, but for now it looks too early to be talking about Arsenal or other destinations.
There’s been a lot written about Chelsea in the last 24 hours and I wanted to set the record straight on two stories here.
Firstly, I’m aware that there have been claims about Conor Gallagher’s salary demands being a problem for Chelsea and holding up an agreement over a new contract. My understanding, however, is that it’s not about Gallagher asking for crazy money or anything unreasonable for his new deal.
Conor Gallagher in action for ChelseaWhat I’m told is that it’s about Chelsea deciding what they want to do with Gallagher and also taking into account the Financial Fair Play situation, but saying that Gallagher is asking for “too high” salary is not accurate.
There’s also been a story about the possibility of Antonio Conte returning to Chelsea as manager, while he’s also been linked as a candidate for another of his former clubs Juventus. As things stand, I’m not aware of any concrete contact, Conte is waiting for the right proposal but there is zero to report with these two clubs right now.
The transfer negotiation between Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid is heading in the right direction and progressing very well. We’re now just waiting for the next crucial step, which is for Mbappe to sign the contract and get the deal done.
The conversations are really positive and there is an agreement on the salary. Mbappe is going to be on similar money to the best players at Real Madrid, like Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, but also with a huge signing-on fee in excess of €100m, which Real Madrid can split over the five years of the player’s contract. It’s now about the final details on image rights because this is another crucial point to get the contract signed.
Mbappe is not negotiating with any other club and he already informed PSG about his decision to leave the club – this was more than one month ago. This remains the case and Mbappe has not changed his mind – it’s all getting closer, with Mbappe set to sign the contract with Real Madrid as soon as possible.
I spoke in yesterday’s column about players who could leave Manchester United, and another to mention is Anthony Martial as he heads towards the end of his contract.
Nothing is decided yet in terms of Martial’s next move – he is going to take time to decide, it’s still early and many clubs still have to clarify their future manager, so Martial will wait.

What I can say is that he was not convinced by proposals from Turkey in January and he wanted to wait. For sure, though, the expectation remains that Martial is set to leave Man United as a free agent this summer.
Someone who won’t be leaving, however, is Bruno Fernandes, who has spoken publicly about his positive talks with the owners. Fernandes is very happy at Man United, and that has never changed.
Despite some of the rumours we’ve seen, I’ve never been aware of any concrete negotiation with Saudi clubs, he’s always been focused on Man United, and nothing else, so far. His dialogue with new INEOS people has been very positive and I think that’s very good news for the club.
Jamal Musiala to Liverpool transfer?
Liverpool like Jamal Musiala, sources have confirmed to Neil Jones – read more in his column here!
