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With less than 2 weeks to go until the transfer window slams shut, we should be braced for the resolution of some transfer sagas that consistently grabbed the headlines this summer. We are in the business end of the window and set for an exciting week and a half.
Here are the top transfer news and rumours of the day.
Romelu Lukaku criticises the way his departure was handled by Manchester United
Romelu Lukaku has hit out at the way in which his exit from Manchester United was handled with respect to "leaks" (rumours). Lukaku claims that he did not feel protected towards the end of his stint at United as no one came out to defend him while several rumours linking him with an exit were doing the rounds.
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Lukaku revealed in LightHarted Podcast with Josh Hart:
"A lot of stuff has been said where I didn't feel protected. I felt like a lot of rumours, 'Rom going there', 'they don't want Rom', and nobody came out to shut it down.
"It was for a good three, four weeks. I'm waiting for someone to come out and shut it down. It didn't happen.
Lukaku also hit out at how nobody defended him when the rumours initially came out and the lack of backing from the club made him want to speed up his exit.
"I had my conversation, told them it was better to go our separate ways. If you don't want to protect somebody, all these rumours come out. I just wanted you to say 'Rom is going to fight for his place', but it never happened for four, five months.
"It was all, 'he's got to go, he doesn't deserve to be there'. Well OK, then I want to go now. There is fighting for your position, but also being somewhere that people want you to be.
Lukaku also suggested that if the club had handled things differently, he would have continued to work hard even if he wasn't going to be a starter at United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the Norwegian always seemed to favour the faster and slicker Marcus Rashford over the big Belgian.
"If you're happy, you find a way, it doesn't matter if you're on the bench or starting. But nobody told me that was the situation, so I thought for two, three weeks to analyse, see all this **** coming out in the media. Who leaks it? Not me. Not my agent. I see it on my phone come out of nowhere.
"I told them it's not good for me to be at a place where I'm not wanted. We're not stupid. They consider us dumb, but we are not dumb, we know who is doing leaks and stuff. I told them, you can't be working like this, it's better for me to go now."
Tahith Chong does not want to leave on loan reveals agent
Tahith Chong is one of the many promising Manchester United youth academy products who are expected to play a role for the senior side in the ongoing season. A fleet-footed winger endowed with pace and trickery, Chong impressed during the pre-season and now his agent has revealed that the 19-year-old does not want to leave on loan.
Instead, the Dutchman wants to kick on at Manchester United and fight for his place in the side. Erkan Alkan, Chong's agent, said:
"Tahith does not want to be loaned, but [he wants] to fight for his chance at Manchester United."
"Top clubs from the Bundesliga and La Liga also have him in sight. He has done a strong preparation [for the season], in which he has proven to be one of the better attackers of United."
Manuel Lanzini insists he wants to stay at West Ham as talks over a new contract continue
Manuel Lanzini is one of the main creative outlets for West Ham United and the club is expected to give the Argentine midfielder a new contract. Lanzini has just 12 months remaining on his current contract with West Ham and the club is now looking to tie him to a fresh long-term contract.
West Ham currently have the option to extend his deal by a further 2 years. However, they want to keep him beyond 2022 and as such are trying to put together a new contract. Lanzini, speaking to Sky Sports, revealed that he wants to stay at the club amid talks of a new deal.
He said:
"Yes, we are talking with the club about staying and, of course, I want to stay.
"It is like my home. It is my fifth season now, I love the fans, the fans love me and the club is amazing."
Real Madrid's €120 million + player trio offer rejected by PSG
Real Madrid are going all out to upstage Barcelona by signing Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain before the end of the summer transfer window. To this end, as per L'Equipe, Real Madrid offered €100 million + Keylor Navas, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale in exchange for the Brazilian. However, the Ligue 1 champions have now rejected that offer.
Paris Saint-Germain are open to selling Neymar as they do not want to keep an unsettled player in their ranks. However, they are willing to offload him only for the right price. They want an amount in the ballpark of the initial €222 million they paid to bring him from Barcelona.
Real Madrid are reportedly expecting PSG to grant them a right of first refusal as the Parisians are not big on selling the Brazilian back to Barcelona. Before the transfer window closes, there will surely be more twists and turns in the Neymar saga. Speaking of twists...
Barcelona tell Neymar to tell PSG he wants to return to the Camp Nou
Barcelona are struggling to engineer a deal to sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain before the summer transfer window closes in a week and a half. The player is clearly unsettled and Paris Saint-Germain are ready to do a deal, but for the right price. Despite this, Barcelona have been unable to pull off a deal.
The Catalans have had 2 bids rejected. They had even sent representatives to Paris to sit down and hold talks with their PSG counterparts. Meanwhile, Real Madrid have already made 2 offers that are better than those made by the Catalans. That could be a major reason why Barcelona are now pushing for Neymar to make his intentions clear to PSG.
Barcelona want to take Neymar on loan for the season and then buy him next summer for €160 million. However, PSG want the €222 million they paid in the summer of 2017 to sign him from the Spanish giants. Barcelona seem to believe that if Neymar forces PSG's hand, their valuation could come down significantly.
