Football transfer rumours: Real Madrid’s Rodrygo to join Manchester City?

Pep Guardiola is the foremost football genius of his generation, revolutionising the game with imaginative tactics such as having the best players and the most money. But he has a particular expertise when it comes to wingers: consider Jack Grealish, now binned to Everton; Savinho, in the process of being binned to Spurs; Jérémy Doku, once fun, now ineffective; Julián Alvarez, binned to be brilliant at Atlético Madrid; Ferran Torres, binned after two seasons; Nolito, binned to Sevilla after a season; all acquired for a combined total of roughly £234.4m.

Consequently, one can only imagine Rodrygo’s excitement at the prospect of joining Manchester City from Real Madrid, who have decided that, though he offers goals, assists, energy, effort, experience, selflessness, variety, balance and big-game performances, he simply isn’t famous enough or attention-seeking enough to remain part of their squad. They value him at £87m – or, if he moves to the Etihad, £29.99 in two years’ time.

None of this is to decry Guardiola’s expertise when it comes to midfielders: in other City news, James McAtee is the latest to be deemed sub-par, following Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Roméo Lavia out of the club. Nottingham Forest are close to agreeing a deal for the 22-year-old and, having paid £52m for Anthony Elanga, expect the price to be somewhere in the region of £9067m; Matheus Nunes, Nico González and Matteo Kovacic are all expected to remain in situ.

Elsewhere Chelsea are, of course, in the market. They are contemplating a bid for Piero Hincapié, the Bayer Leverkusen centre-back, but any move may be affected by their apparent antipathy towards Newcastle. Having already deprived them of João Pedro and Liam Delap, they are now trying to give Liverpool £43m for Ibrahima Konaté because, as last season proves, a frequently injured and inattentive defender is a mark of champions. Though this profile would need replacing, Arne Slot might well repurpose some loot for the acquisition of Alexander Isak, who will only contemplate reintegrating or signing a new contract if he is informed there is no prospect of a move to Anfield.

Meantime, the feelgood story of the summer continues apace as Eddie Howe seeks a centre-forward, any centre-forward, prepared to play for him. As such, Newcastle are talking to Rennes about Arnaud Kalimuendo … but so too are Brentford, whose negotiations are the more advanced. Stay tuned for yet more heartwarming hilarity.

Howe is also interested in Bilal El Khannouss, Leicester’s attacking midfielder, but so are Leeds, while Everton, having been rebuffed in various attempts to sign Tyler Dibling, will instead try for Tyler Durden. Should he fail to materialise, they too will contact the KP Stadium, with Abdul Fatawu the target.

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Down the East Lancs Road and to Old Trafford where, holding a placard reading “I AM THE TRUTH”, Rasmus Højlund has chained himself to the Manchester United team bus; shortly afterwards, Ruben Amorim ordered its sending to the breaker’s yard. However there is interest in the player from Italy, with Inter, Roma and Juventus joining Milan in the chase, but the smart money is on him joining his fellow reject Scott McTominay at Napoli and proving once again the old adage that when you leave United, the only way is stratospheric. Maybe they’ve got more in common with City than they think.

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