Harry Kane remains at the centre of significant transfer speculation after the Tottenham striker failed to secure a move to Manchester City last year.
The England star appears more settled under Antonio Conte but has been linked with Bayern Munich recently.
Kane has started this Premier League campaign strongly, netting six goals in seven appearances.
TOP STORY – CHELSEA PLOTTING KANE-LUKAKU SWAP
New Chelsea boss Graham Potter wants to bring Harry Kane across town from Tottenham, claims Calciomercato.
The Blues boss is ready to offer Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, currently on loan at Inter, as part of an exchange for Kane. The England forward's contract at Tottenham expires in 2024.
Chelsea are at the start of a new era after Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel, while they are set to appoint Salzburg's Christoph Freund as their new sporting director.
ROUND-UP
– Fichajes reports Atletico Madrid are desperate to add a versatile attacker to their squad next year, with Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, Brighton and Hove Albion's Leandro Trossard and Liverpool's Roberto Firmino on top of their wish list.
– Calciomercato claims Liverpool are considering a move for Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk. Newcastle United, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen and Ajax are also tracking the Ukrainian, according to CBS' Ben Jacobs. TalkSPORT reports that the Reds are also keeping an eye on Flamengo midfielder Joao Gomes .
– Manchester City are interested in a big-money move for Milan winger Rafael Leao next year, according to the Manchester Evening News.
– Football Insider reports West Ham have informed Manuel Lanzini he is free to leave the club in January.
– Former Italy international Fabio Cannavaro is close to a return to management with talks to take over at Serie B club Benevento progressing well, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Man Utd without injured Maguire for FA Cup final
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire will miss Saturday's FA Cup final clash with Manchester City, Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag has confirmed.
Maguire has been sidelined since suffering a muscle injury in training earlier in May, with the timeframe for his recovery estimated at around three weeks.
That meant he always faced an uphill battle to make Saturday's showpiece game at Wembley Stadium, though he was included in England's preliminary Euro 2024 squad on Tuesday.
At Thursday's pre-match press conference, Ten Hag confirmed Maguire will not be available but said Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount and Anthony Martial are in contention after being pictured in training.
"Harry Maguire is unavailable but the rest, all the players you mentioned, I think they are available," the Dutchman said when asked for a team news update.
"We have our final training tomorrow and then we have final decisions to make. But, as I oversee it now, it looks good."
Asked if Maguire's chances of featuring at the Euros were in doubt, Ten Hag said: "I don't think so. It's just he doesn't make it [the final]. It didn't heal as we expected."
Fellow centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane are expected to be available, with the latter set to leave United on a free transfer after the final.
United have lost 19 games and conceded 84 goals in all competitions this season. They last lost 20 in a campaign in 1973-74 (22) and last conceded more than 84 goals in 1963-64 (89).
Ten Hag's position has been called into question throughout their miserable campaign, with reports on Thursday suggesting Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna was a target for the Jim Ratcliffe regime.
Ten Hag, however, says the opportunity to win a second major trophy in as many seasons is his only focus.
"It's all about trophies," he said. "We have a huge opportunity to win a trophy.
"In the last 10 years, there were not many trophies in this club but we have an opportunity to win two trophies in two years."
West Ham's Paqueta charged by FA over alleged breaches of betting rules
Lucas Paqueta has been charged by the Football Association (FA) over alleged breaches of betting rules, with the West Ham midfielder accused of intentionally seeking to receive a card in four different games.
Last August, it was reported that the FA had opened an investigation into suspicious betting activity surrounding Paqueta.
In March, the Brazil international said he was cooperating with the FA's probe and was "happy to be helping".
On Thursday, the FA brought charges against Paqueta, who is accused of attempting to get himself carded in four different Premier League fixtures, three in the 2022-23 season and one on the opening matchday of 2023-24.
An FA spokesperson said: "West Ham United's Lucas Paqueta has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of FA Rules E5 and F3.
"The player has been charged with four breaches of FA Rule E5.1 in relation to his conduct in the club's Premier League fixtures against Leicester City on 12 November 2022; Aston Villa on 12 March 2023; Leeds United on 21 May 2023; and AFC Bournemouth on 12 August 2023.
"It's alleged that he directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting."
Paqueta, who has until June 3 to respond to the charges, immediately addressed them on social media, vowing to clear his name.
He wrote on Instagram: "I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA has decided to charge me. For nine months, I have cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can.
"I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name."
The news comes after Brentford striker Ivan Toney served an eight-month ban following his admission of 232 breaches of betting rules between 2017 and 2021.
Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali, meanwhile, is midway through a 10-month suspension for breaking the Italian Football Federation's gambling rules and was recently given a suspended two-month sanction over 50 breaches investigated by the FA.
Postecoglou: There's a deadline on signing Werner
Ange Postecoglou has revealed Tottenham have a deadline if they want to make Timo Werner’s loan deal permanent.
The German joined Spurs on loan in January from RB Leipzig, scoring twice and assisting three goals in 14 matches in all competitions for the North London side.
However, Werner missed the last five games of Spurs’ season due to a hamstring injury he sustained against Arsenal.
Postecoglou admitted that he was relaxed about the situation, but whether a deal was made was out of his hands.
Speaking to reporters following their friendly in Melbourne against Newcastle United, Postecoglou said: "I think from our perspective, there's a deadline there.
"Again, a lot of that will depend on the negotiations between the clubs and how Timo feels.
"Again, from my perspective, I'm comfortable with that situation, and I'll let the other guys steer it to see what kind of outcome there is."
After a strong start to their season, Spurs eventually finished fifth in the Premier League, securing a place in the Europa League next season.
The Australian also believes the club need to bring more attacking players in as a priority to balance the higher workload next season after struggling with injuries this campaign.
"Yeah, absolutely. It's no secret [we need new forwards]. You saw the way we finished the season," he said.
"We obviously lost Richarlison and Timo Werner as well with injuries, but we're fairly light in that area.
"We started last season with Manor [Solomon] and [Ivan] Perisic, and we were quite healthy in that front third in terms of numbers, but as the year went on it became pretty evident that we needed to bulk up.
"We're in Europe as well next year, so we'll have more games, and it's definitely an area of the park we'll need to strengthen."
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