Manchester United are ready for plan B if the Frenkie De Jong's deal is off. Juventus are doing everything to get rid of Arthur. Fenerbahce, the dream is called Pablo Mari. Here are some of the main stories over the last few days of the transfer market from TribalFootball's transfer expert Rudy Galetti.
Mertens, goodbye Napoli...because of that money
The story between Dries Mertens and Napoli is officially over...
It was announced by the President of the Italian club, Aurelio de Laurentiis, who, a few days ago, greeted the former player of the 'Azzurri', wishing him the best, but with a zinger to the Belgian. He said: "Dries has proposed himself for only one year because he knows that at the age of 35 he has to retire. If he makes it a matter of cold, hard cash, then I have to say no. Paying a disproportionate salary to Mertens would take money away from next season's budget. I presented him with €4 million per season gross and he refused. So, I said thank you very much to him, but we cannot go beyond our capabilities. I need to have money to buy young players who can represent Napoli in future seasons. I wish him the best."
Just a matter of money, then. Mertens wanted more, President De Laurentiis told him no. And now Lazio, pushed by their coach Maurizio Sarri who'd like to embrace the striker once again, is ready to come forward to offer a future to the Belgian. But even President Claudio Lotito is not such a "generous" person when it comes to salaries.
Perhaps, in order to economically get what he wants, he should do like Paulo Dybala: staying in the capital of Italy, but on the Giallorossi side. It's not such a remote hypothesis: AS Roma have contacted his entourage. For now, only to ask for information, but Mertens' future could be linked to the Eternal City, a few kilometres from Naples.
Fenerbahce want to sign Pablo Mari
In recent days, Fenerbahce have contacted Arsenal to talk about the Spanish defender, Pablo Mari. The Turkish club, after buying Joao Pedro from Cagliari, are now aiming to fix the defence and give Jorge Jesus a very competitive team.
The former Udinese centre-back, who has returned to the Gunners after his Serie A loan, appears to be the most suitable profile for the Portuguese manager. In the last season, before the Italian parenthesis, Mari had played only 2 games with the Arsenal shirt, too little for a footballer who aims to be a key player. A role not so easy to reach in London where, at the moment, he's behind Ben White and Gabriel in the hierarchies of Mikel Arteta.
The same manager, a few days ago, spoke about the large number of players he can count on and the choices that he'll have to make to thin out the ranks: "We have a large squad. We have to make some decisions on the players that we're not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them. That's a process that is going to start very soon as well. We have to, and now we have to make things happen." That's why the centre-back could really leave AFC permanently very soon. In Turkey they are already waiting for him with open arms.
Juventus want to get rid of Arthur: Arsenal are ready to catch him
One of Juventus' priorities for this transfer market session is to thin out the midfield, getting rid of the ballast that didn't shine in the last season.
Arthur Melo is certainly one of the names out of the project of mister Max Allegri. The Brazilian midfielder is not particularly loved even by the Juventus supporters, with most of the fans who would like to see him away from Turin. Perhaps the time has come. Arsenal, in fact, are ready to make an offer to Juventus. Despite the interest for Youri Tielemans, the Gunners could try to sign the Juve midfielder. However, the positions between the 2 clubs are not so close at the moment. Juventus values the player around 30 million euros, but we cannot forget that only 2 years ago he was bought for around € 72M + bonus from Barcelona, in the deal with Miralem Pjanic. One of the most suspicious European transfer market operations in recent years. Disproportionate market values, subjected to court inquiries as happened in Italy, but resulted in no judicial outcome.
In any case, Arsenal are absolutely not willing to pay even €30 million. This is why the suitable solution for this type of operation seems to be a loan with option to buy, a formula that puts everyone in agreement. The parties are hard at work and there could be soon further developments on this deal.
Manchester United: if the De Jong's deal is off, SMS is in pole position
Manchester United are completely revolutionising the team. Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez are only the first 3 players (of a long series) wanted by Erik ten Hag to transform the Red Devils, who last year only finished sixth in English Premier League.
The Dutch coach - as already reported - before his arrival had made it clear that market operations should have followed all his instructions, from start to finish. It is no coincidence that 2 of the official announcements concern players from the Dutch league - where Ten Hag coached Ajax until a few weeks ago - and one of the great requests is Frankie De Jong, compatriot of the manager. The Barcelona player, however, would not accept the United, who are so studying a plan B that has a name and a surname: Sergej Milinković-Savić.
The Lazio player has been for so long in the crosshairs of the English club, which have been following him since last summer. Manchester - and especially the manager Ten Hag - will do everything to convince Frenkie: if things go wrong, Manchester could try for the Serbian player. Lotito, however, wants at least €70 million to let him go. Half of those "famous" €140million that the President of Lazio would have refused (the conditional is a must) a few years ago.
Inter, what happened to Dybala and Bremer?
Inter were the most active Italian club in the transfer market in June: Beppe Marotta brought Romelu Lukaku back to Milan, bought prospective talents like Bellanova and Asllani and signed experienced players like Onana and Mkhitaryan. Then, everything seemed ready for another 2 great hits: Dybala and Bremer who, in the end, however, decided to go to Roma and Juventus respectively. What really happened? Why did Inter miss out on these 2 very good names?
The reason is only related to the (waiting) times. For Paulo, with whom the talks were well advanced and it was "only" necessary to fill a gap of 2 million, the arrival of Lukaku shifted priorities: Inter were no longer willing to accept the conditions of agent Antun who, at that point, resumed relations with Roma. Tiago Pinto (in particular) and Mourinho are crazy about him and as soon as they had the chance, they didn't let the Argentine player get away.
The situation was similar also for Bremer: the agreement with the player had been in place for some time, but the still unclear situation about Skriniar has delayed the entire process. Juventus, after the rich sale of De Ligt, did not let themselves be beaten: with liquidity in hand, they convinced the President Cairo, very attached to money, and took home one of the strongest defenders in Serie A. With many greetings (and thanks) to Inter from Roma and Juve.
