Williams Arsenal Chelsea, Liverpool deal & more

This article was originally published on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io

We’ve heard a lot about Arsenal wanting to sign a new midfielder in the summer, and one of the latest names being linked with them is Khephren Thuram of Nice. He’s a top talent and there’s also been some talk of interest from Liverpool and other big clubs before, but what’s the situation now?

My understanding is that it’s not something concrete so far, Arsenal have made no decision yet. I can still mention Martin Zubimendi and Douglas Luiz as names on their list, but we’ll have to wait and see who they decide to go for. There is currently no news also on Thuram as it will also depend on how much Nice will ask for him – his price tag has not been decided yet.

Arsenal have also sent their scouts to follow Nico Williams of Athletic Bilbao multiple times, and it’s the same for Chelsea as they included him in the list last summer. The race is completely open, and nothing is advanced with either club so far. He’d be great in the Premier League in my opinion – a physical and technical player; very good one.

Thiago Silva’s position in the Chelsea starting line up may now be in doubt after he missed the game against Aston Villa in the FA Cup, but I honestly don’t know about this situation or what it means for his place in the side for the rest of this season. It’s not a transfer story so it’s not really my area, it will depend on Mauricio Pochettino. But they clarified the situation days ago, so it seems to just be a technical decision now up to the coaching staff.

Conor Gallagher is another name at Chelsea continuing to attract headlines, but it’s another one that’s not resolved yet. Despite reports from some sources that Chelsea have now decided to sell the midfielder, there’s nothing confirmed yet. We will see in the next months.

At the moment Gallagher’s contract situation remains the same; of course if he arrives to June/July out of contract in 2025, it will be again be an extend-or-sell situation for Gallagher. But nothing is concrete at this stage – in January we had 100 rumours per day but nothing happened, not even negotiations.

There is a pact in place for Lamine Yamal to sign a new professional contract with Barcelona as soon as he turns 18. Barca have already prepared the new contract for Yamal, with a new salary and some other details to be clarified for 2025, but this is the idea of the project they have for the player.

They also have an excellent relationship with the agent of the player, Jorge Mendes, who also represents Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix. So Barcelona have already prepared the future contract of Lamine Yamal – there is a verbal pact, and there is a release clause of €1bn that is in the current contract and which will also be in the new one.

Staying with Barcelona, I’m told it’s not true that Antonio Conte has been offered to the club as a candidate to be their next manager. At the moment there is nothing ongoing between Conte and Barca, it’s all quiet. The same is true with Thiago Motta – he is not in the frame for the job at the moment, he’s going to stay in Italy and work in Italy next season. It’s also completely quiet with Rafael Marquez.

With Hansi Flick, I’m told he would be super happy to come to Barca, he’s super open to this possibility. But it’s on Barca – Laporta and Deco have to decide who is the manager they want, and at the moment they have not made a decision, it will still be some time before we know the new Barca coach.

Alphonso Davies is one of the top targets for Real Madrid for the summer transfer window, but it will depend on what happens between Davies and Bayern Munich on a new contract. If Bayern can’t agree a new deal with Davies, then Real Madrid will have a big opportunity to sign the Canadian left-back.

More Stories / Latest News

But, they also have another option – Miguel Gutierrez at Girona. Real Madrid are impressed with how the 22-year-old is developing. He’s a Girona player, but he previously joined from Real Madrid and they have a 50% sell-on clause for the player, and also a clause for summer 2024 to bring Gutierrez back to the club for just €8m. This then goes up to €9m for summer 2025, and to €10m for summer 2026.

This is the agreement and Real Madrid will decide in the summer, with the player waiting for Real Madrid. He had other possibilities in January but wanted to wait until the summer for Real Madrid.

Liverpool talent Kieran Morrison is set to sign a new three-year deal at the club despite being linked with move away last summer. The highly-rated young midfielder, born in 2006, has verbally agreed to new contract. It will soon be time to review documents and then announce.

English and German clubs wanted him before this agreement, so it looks like a good move by Liverpool to secure his future. In terms of what happens next, whether he gets a chance in the first-team or goes out on loan, this is not something clear now, we will see next season with new manager and with new director what they decide to do in terms of loan and similar. Now the mission was his contract extension; and it’s done.

Finally, I’ve also heard some stories about Liverpool eyeing Patrick Dorgu from Lecce. However, I honestly have zero confirmation on this one. I have nothing on this story unfortunately and about Dorgu in general, he’s doing well in Serie A but I’m not aware of these kind of clubs being in talks for him.