This article was originally published on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io
—
It’s still too early to predict what’s going to happen in the final weeks of the transfer window in my opinion!
Many things can happen for all the big clubs… it’s gonna be a long couple of weeks, for sure.
So, not a good time for predicting who will have had the best window, but credit to West Ham so far.
They’ve done an excellent job landing players like Wan Bissaka, Todibo, Guido Rodriguez, Fullkrug… these are names for top, top clubs.
Congrats to West Ham, really.
Lots of rumours about Real Madrid guys, but there is zero news on Rodrygo so far.
His full focus is on Real Madrid, and there have been no negotiations with other clubs.
He’s expected to stay at the club and they believe their market is closed also in terms of big players’ exit. They’re not planning for any big sales.
It’s the same situation with Eder Militao. No players leaving in the final two weeks, the squad is closed.
Also, they’re still waiting for David Alaba to come back from injury, so selling Militao now would make no sense and be crazy.
All quiet at the Santiago Bernabeu… nothing to see here.
Chelsea are still hoping to land Joao FelixThe negotiations between Atletico Madrid and Chelsea for Joao Felix are ongoing so no guys, I can’t mention the difference in terms of both club’s valuation of the player now.
It’s club to club dialogue at the moment rather than the traditional process which is official bid-official answer.
So, talks are constant and the danger of collapsing is obviously a possibility but, as of now, negotiations continue.
I’d not focus on a deal collapsing to be honest, I prefer to tell people what’s going on now rather than ‘predicting’ things – and the reality right now is that that the two clubs are still negotiating.
I know it’s a crazy saga. I know it’s gone quiet in the last 24/48 hours, but behind the scenes, the conversations are taking place and I can guarantee that Chelsea are still working on the deal with Atletico Madrid and with the agent of the player, Jorge Mendes.
I will keep you posted, but this remains an ongoing story at the moment.
Newcastle are still working on a deal for Marc Guehi, and despite having a third bid rejected, they’re still hopeful of reaching an agreement with Crystal Palace.
Guehi’s also expecting Newcastle to return to the table and negotiate again.
It’d keep this option open for the final two weeks, while Palace have also added Robin Gosens to their list at LWB.
Romelu Lukaku is getting closer to ChelseaThis week in London a director of Napoli has been working on the deal for Romelu Lukaku.
We know that Lukaku has an agreement with Napoli for a three-year contract, the salary is okay and the player is already talking with Antonio Conte. He wants to go to Napoli, but work is still ongoing.
During these conversations I can tell you, once again, that Chelsea told Napoli clearly that they have Victor Osimhen on their list and they want to make a move for him, but as of now, Chelsea have still not presented a contract proposal to the player.
So, I would say we are still at the early stages of the Osimhen story, but at the advanced stages of the Lukaku story.
As I always told you, Osimhen will not go on loan and will not reduce his salary from €11m net, so Chelsea still need to do some work on the player side before saying ‘okay, we are now at the key stages of the Osimhen story.’
Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann could move to MLS in 2025I received many questions this summer about Antoine Griezmann, because we heard many rumours that he might be on his way to MLS.
I can tell you that, this summer, Antoine Griezmann was never close to joining MLS.
LAFC, the club of Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris – so a big French influence – are planning to make a move for Antoine Griezmann in 2025.
This summer was just a dream and was almost impossible. Next summer, they will try for him.

Let’s see what Atlético Madrid decide to do, and what the player will decide to do. I’m not saying that he’s going to MLS, but I’m saying that they will try again.
Griezmann has always been and will remain super serious, super committed, super professional.
One year ago, he had the possibility to go to Saudi for crazy money, but he always only wanted to continue at Atlético Madrid.
We know that Barcelona are looking for a solution for Vitor Roque.
He rejected the possibility to go to Saudi but let’s see if they will return.
In the last 24 hours, Sporting have begun working actively to make something happen for Vitor Roque. They’re in negotiations with with Deco and with the agent of the player.
Fellow Portuguese side, Porto, were in the news today because they sold Evanilson to Bournemouth to replace Solanke, but I’m told that Porto, as of today, are not in advanced talks for Vitor Roque.