Transfer Gossip: Man Utd frustration as Chelsea end Maguire pursuit and push for Liverpool target instead; West Ham beaten with Leeds star to join Everton
![Chelsea want Marc Guehi ahead of Harry Maguire Chelsea want Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi ahead of unwanted Man Utd star Harry Maguire](https://images.ps-aws.com/c?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.teamtalk.com%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F07%2F20082949%2FChelsea-want-Marc-Guehi-ahead-of-Harry-Maguire.jpg)
Chelsea want Marc Guehi ahead of Harry Maguire
Chelsea will ditch plans to sign Harry Maguire and will chase a £60m-rated Crystal Palace man instead, a Leeds winger’s agent is in the UK to seal a move to Everton, while Thursday’s Transfer Gossip claims Bournemouth have beaten Arsenal to a top Spanish target.
POCHETTINO WANTS GUEHI AT CHELSEA AFTER ENDING MAGUIRE CHASE
Chelsea are to call time on their apparent interest in Harry Maguire – and will instead look to bring Marc Guehi back to the club.
The Blues are in the hunt for a new centre-half this summer with Mauricio Pochettino keen to strengthen his squad. And a serious knee injury to £70m man Wesley Fofana has only enhanced that need.
As a result, Chelsea were being strongly linked with a move for Maguire.
The England defender has been stripped of the Manchester United captaincy after falling down the pecking order. And with Erik ten Hag desperate to get him gone, he has already brought in a possible replacement in Jonny Evans.
Offloading Maguire though will not be easy. United still reportedly want a sizeable fee for the 30-year-old star. And while Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham had been linked, it was Chelsea who appeared ready to make a move.
To that end, they were preparing to open talks with United over a deal in the region of £30m.
However, much to United’s chagrin, Pochettino has had a change of heart and feels the Blues are better spending their cash elsewhere.
As a result, The Guardian claims they are ready to turn back to former defender Guehi.
Guehi return will cost Chelsea big money
The 23-year-old has made a real name for himself since leaving Stamford Bridge for Crystal Palace in 2021.
Featuring 82 times in two seasons, he has become a real rock at the heart of their defence.
Scoring five goals, he has also proved himself pretty useful at the other end of the pitch. And four caps for England shows the player is highly-regarded by the national team too.
That form has led to speculation of a move to Liverpool with Jurgen Klopp a keen admirer and ready to look to the future.
Now Chelsea also want to bring him back to Stamford Bridge too.
However, any deal is unlikely to come cheap for Pochettino and Co.
Despite signing him for £18m two years ago, the are likely to demand a fee of at least £60m for the player.
Unfortunately for the Blues and when selling him to the Eagles, they did not insert a buy-back clause in the deal.
They did though, include a sell-on percentage which could bring the deal down. And the club also have an option to match any firm offer that Palace receive for the defender.
Guehi has another three years left on his deal, though, and Palace are unlikely to want to sell.
READ MORE: Pochettino brutally terminates Chelsea flop’s contract a year early; Romano confirms departure
WILFRIED GNONTO AGENT ARRIVES TO TIE UP EVERTON SWITCH
The agent of Leeds United star Wilfried Gnonto has reportedly arrived in the UK to seal his client’s move to Everton.
The Toffees are desperate to add another winger this summer and have made Gnonto their No 1 target.
The teenage winger was one of the few bright sparks in a bitterly-disappointing season for Leeds as they suffered relegation.
However, their initial £15m move for the Italy star had been rebuffed by the Championship side.
As a result, Everton boss Sean Dyche was reportedly set to turn his focus towards Man Utd winger Anthony Elanga. The Sweden winger appears likely to available for a fee of around £12m.
But a late move by West Ham for Gnonto has appeared to kick Everton into gear.
And according to reports in Italy, Everton have now had a £20m offer accepted by Leeds.
Per sportitalia, Gnonto’s agent Claudio Vigorelli has travelled to London to finalise the move.
That said, Leeds have made it clear that they want Gnonto to hang around. And while they only signed the winger for £5.2m, it seems surprisingly they would sell their top prospect for such a lowly fee.
Gnonto scored four goals and added four assists from 28 appearances for the Whites.
READ MORE: Leeds ‘make ambitious offer’ for Liverpool cult hero as Farke eyes striker after Ampadu confirmation
ARSENAL TO BE BEATEN BY BOURNEMOUTH TO TOP TARGET
Long-term Arsenal target Ivan Fresneda is reportedly set to sign for Bournemouth, per a report.
The 18-year-old was a breakout star for Real Valladolid in the season just gone, with Arsenal making regular trips to watch him.
Indeed, they strongly considered a move for the teenager back in the January window, only to shelve their interest for the time being.
Since then, Fresneda has been strongly linked with a move to Germany with Borussia Dortmund also on his trail.
And with Vallodolid willing to sell for a fee of around £15m, it seems a move away appeared inevitable.
But BVB have failed to push through the deal, leading to renewed speculation of a switch to Barcelona or Real Madrid.
However, Football Insider now reports that it is Bournemouth who are leading the chase.
Their new Spanish boss Andoni Iraola has locked on to the talented full-back. And he reportedly has been cleared to make an official move.
Now the Cherries hope to add Fresneda to their squad and pull off something of a transfer coup.
Fresneda made 24 appearances during the 2022/23 season, including 18 starts in LaLiga.
READ MORE ~ Sources: Bournemouth on the cusp of stunning transfer hijack, with Lazio gazumped for Milos Kerkez