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1 month ago
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I’m aware there continue to be plenty of stories about Victor Osimhen’s future after a crazy summer that saw him make the surprise move to Galatasaray despite the strong interest from Chelsea and other clubs. I’ve been asked about reports on Osimhen possibly moving for just £40m this January, with Chelsea said to be working on this deal behind the scenes.
However, I can honestly say that nothing is happening now regarding Osimhen. I’ve said many times recently that Chelsea’s interest remains and they still like the player, but there are no negotiations ongoing and it would be disrespectful for Galatasaray as they paid important money to land Osimhen on loan. So it’s all quiet for now, and once we get closer to January we will see the developments.
Another striker update is that Dusan Vlahovic could sign a new contract at Juventus despite links with Chelsea in the summer. I’m told it was never a concrete possibility as it was never a priority for the Blues, who were looking for different players.
Juventus also didn’t want to sell Vlahovic and now there are already discussions about a new contract for the Serbian striker. With Federico Chiesa, Juve were clear with the player that they didn’t have him in their plans anymore, and so he left to join Liverpool, but with Vlahovic it’s a different story – they want to extend the contract and they have announced publicly that a deal will be done, so the plan is to reach an agreement with Vlahovic and his agents.
Another player being linked with Chelsea is RB Leipzig’s talented centre-back Castello Lukeba. The 21-year-old is one of the most talented young defenders in Europe, for sure, and he’s been linked with some French clubs as well as with Chelsea, but what I can for the moment is that there is no concrete negotiation and no concrete talks taking place.
Leipzig recently sold Mohamed Simakan, so for another key defender to move on it would have to be a crazy proposal. Chelsea are following many centre-backs, so Lukeba is one of many players they’ve been monitoring, which is absolutely normal, just like with Tomas Araujo at Benfica. Araujo in particular is a player Chelsea really like, and they tried for him in the final weeks of the summer transfer window. At that time, Benfica didn’t want to sell the player, but he remains someone on Chelsea’s radar, and they are also scouting Lukeba, but at this moment it’s too early to predict where he’s going.
Real Madrid are also keeping a close eye on Lukeba because they wanted to sign Leny Yoro, but then he decided to go to Manchester United. The original plan was to sign Yoro, but then that collapsed, and now Real Madrid keep working on centre-backs for 2025, and Lukeba is one of many players they are watching, and he is generally super appreciated around Europe. However, he’s going to be expensive, for sure, because signing players from Leipzig is never easy at all.
You may remember Liverpool were interested in Anthony Gordon this summer – this was during June when there was some panic at Newcastle about the Financial Fair Play situation. There were moments when it seemed like they might have to sell one of their star players in order to comply with the rules, but then they were able to find a different solution.
Liverpool tried to understand the situation with Gordon, but it was considered too expensive and too complicated for them to proceed. Still, for Gordon there was this possibility and also others in the summer, though he ended up staying at Newcastle, and now a new contract is ready and done.
I’m told that everything is completed for Gordon to sign a new deal until 2029. So it’s a five-year contract for Gordon, everything is done, and he’ll become one of the highest paid players at Newcastle after the great season he had last year, and he’s ready to do more for them again. It’s now just about the formal steps and official announcement, but everything is okay – Gordon is signing a new contract at Newcastle, and next the plan for Newcastle is to do the same with Alexander Isak.
Newcastle have also been linked with Alex Baena, but there’s nothing into it at the moment. My understanding is that it’s all quiet around Baena as Villarreal consider him a key player; Newcastle do a lot of scouting activity, so it’s normal for them to follow players around the world but nothing concrete or advanced into this one.
You may remember my exclusive update from the summer when Chido Obi-Martin decided to leave Arsenal, and he had several possibilities, including Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and several clubs in Italy, but Manchester United presented him with an important proposal and project, the opportunity to be close to the first-team, and with the view to being in the first-team in the next few years.
And so, Obi-Martin decided to go to Man United. He had his medical and signed all the documents, so everything was ready, but the deal was not official yet and so I received many messages about this, from fans trying to understand the situation. It was because of the Premier League’s five-step process – for an academy player to leave one Premier League club for another, there needs to be an approval, and now the approval is there.
So, Chido Obi-Martin to Man United was a ‘here we go’ in the summer, and now the Red Devils received confirmation that the deal has been approved, so it’s all done. Everything is okay, and Obi-Martin now becomes a United player and an important talent for their future, because Mikel Arteta and other people at Arsenal really pushed to keep him – they did their best, but he wanted to change and it’s nothing to do with money, just about his development and the space he can find at the club, so he decided to go to United and now it’s finally completed.

 
We’ve seen a lot of headlines and a lot of reaction to last week’s big game between Manchester City and Arsenal, with both the players and now even the managers speaking out.
This has even led to reports of a poor relationship between the clubs, and possible fears of a bad-tempered clash when they meet again later in the season, but I think it’s absolutely normal to have some kind of tense answers when there’s a big rivalry on the pitch between two excellent teams.
It’s part of the game, it happened with all big rivalries in the past, I’m not surprised. I’m sure Pep and Arteta still respect each other in the best way possible, so it’s just normal football stuff.
Theo Hernandez – The AC Milan left-back has shown once again that he is simply a fantastic, really fantastic football player. We had many rumours about his future this summer but he was not even close to leaving, despite people mentioning Bayern talks it never happened as for Milan he’s a key player. The club, the fans love him and he loves AC Milan. So it’s all completely quiet around Theo and he’s a crucial player, on and off the pitch.
Thiago Alcantara – I fully expect Thiago to re-join Hansi Flick’s Barcelona staff in the next months. We will see when, but it’s a really concrete and strong possibility. He’d be really helpful as he already was in the summer, supporting on the tactical point of view, in the relationship with the players and then also the language. He’s an excellent addition for the Barca staff, in my opinion.
David Moyes – Despite West Ham’s struggles and talk of a possible return for David Moyes as manager, I have zero information on this – zero confirmation, nothing at all. West Ham as a club keep supporting Julen Lopetegui and waiting for better results after many player changes in the summer. I have no info on Moyes returning or any idea, discussion or contact so far.
