Transfer rumor roundup 6/20: Liverpool to seal Salah deal
By Nick Pitner
Here’s a roundup of the latest news and transfer rumors surrounding which players could be joining new teams in the coming months.
Tuesday’s transfer news is highlighted by the Mirror’s report that Mohamed Salah is flying into London to finalize his Liverpool move.
The Egyptian winger has been heavily linked with a return to England since the end of the season and is due to arrive in the country for a medical on Tuesday.
Also reportedly set for London is Roma sporting director Monchi, who will meet with the club’s president James Pallotta to iron out the details of Salah’s sale.
It’s expected that Salah will cost Liverpool £32 million plus another £5 million in add-ons, and the player is said to have already agreed to a five-year contract worth £90,000 per week.
Salah initially joined the Premier League when he signed for Chelsea in 2014, but after finding minutes hard to come by under Jose Mourinho, he spent loan spells at Fiorentina and Roma, with the latter ultimately purchasing him last summer on a permanent deal.
Over the past two seasons with Roma, Salah registered 29 goals and 17 assists in Serie A play, giving Liverpool another exciting attacker to go with Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
Another left-footed frontman that’s on the move is Bayern Munich’s Douglas Costa, who Bild reports has been the subject of a successful €40 million offer from Juventus.
After totaling seven goals and 12 assists upon entering Pep Guardiola’s Bayern team, Costa fell out of favor under the Bavarians’ new boss, Carlo Ancelotti, this past season, resulting in seven goals and six assists in just 19 starts across all competitions.
At 26 years old, the Brazilian is keen for a fresh opportunity elsewhere and is reportedly willing to join Juventus in order to gain one.
As it stands, the Champions League runners-up are lacking an out-and-out winger like Costa, so his presence would offer manager Max Allegri something unique.
While his transfer looks to be pretty far along, Costa still needs to negotiate personal terms with Juve, which could delay the process a bit. According to the report, he’s seeking a salary of around €9 million, but among Juve players, only Gonzalo Higuain is earning more than that right now.
Whereas Costa seems bound for Turin, his countryman Dani Alves could be set for a Juventus exit after just one season at the club.
According to Goal, Alves has verbally agreed to a two-year contract to join Manchester City this summer.
The right-back signed for Juve on a free transfer from Barcelona last year, but is already compelled to jump ship and link up with his old boss Pep Guardiola at Man City, and reportedly informed Juventus on Monday of his desire to do so.
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According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Alves would earn roughly £85,000 per week at the Etihad, which is far closer to the £100,000 per week he earned at Barcelona than the £60,000 per week he made at Juventus this past season.
Along with a potential raise and reunion with Guardiola, Alves would seemingly slot into the Citizens’ starting lineup after they released both Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta following the most recent campaign.
Although Alves is now 34 years old, the swashbuckling full-back recorded six goals and six assists in 33 total appearances last season, and also won 55 percent of his aerial duels and 67 percent of his take-on attempts, per Squawka.
Furthermore, given his advanced age, Alves is only anticipated to cost Man City around £5 million, representing a steal in today’s market.
On the opposite side of the age and accomplishment spectrum, ESPN reports 19-year-old Chelsea product Tammy Abraham is a loan target of Swansea.
In fact, the club’s chairman, Huw Jenkins, admitted as much himself, saying, “Tammy does not have Premier League experience, but we are interested.”
Jenkins went on to cite Abraham’s familiarity with Swansea manager Paul Clement, who worked around Chelsea’s youth and first-team setup from 2007 to 2011, as something that could favor them over Newcastle and Brighton in their pursuit of the player.
However, with Abraham currently on international duty with England’s team at the U-21 Euros in Poland, a decision on his future is not expected until after he returns home.
Standing 6-foot-3, Abraham was a hit while on loan at Championship side Bristol City this past season, scoring 23 goals in 41 league appearances.